The Express Tribune hi five - June 9

e n u b tri THE

ESS EXPR

T R IB

UNE

, JU N

0 E 9, 2

13

Will Diet Coke and Mentos make your stomach explode?

Page 2

Myth Busters It’s craft time!

Page 4

The million dollar math problem!

Page 5

Time to put on your thinking cap.

Page 7

Your Proofness: Mahim Maher Master Storyteller: Ameer Hamza Creativity Analysts: Amna Iqbal, Essa Malik, Jamal Khurshid, Maha Haider, Samra Aamir, Kiran Shahid, Faizan Dawood, Anam Haleem, Umar Waqas

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 9, 2013

Hi light Hi Light

22

Ever wonder if chewing gum really takes seven years to pass through your digestive system? Or have you ever been worried about drinking Diet Coke and eating Mentos right after... What if it made your stomach explode? Why do you have to wait for an hour to go back into the pool if you have had a small snack? Join us as we separate fact from fiction!

Chewing gum takes seven years to pass through the tive human digestive system.

FALSE

It’s hard to find anyone who hasn’t heard this myth. As sticky as chewing gum might appear to be outside the body, once eaten it’s no more remarkable than most anything else we swallow.

This myth comes from a confusion of the term commonly applied to chewing gum: indigestible.

Although gum is made up of different ingredients, it does not stay in ingredi your st stomach. Your gut moves gum a along through the intestines until it is finally eliminated as human waste in the same wa way and at the same rate as any o other swallowed matter.

Myth Busters

Those who go swimming less than a one hour after eating will get cramps and ddrown.

FALSE

You might have seen this in a movie. Dunk unk a sleeping person's hand in water and they y will wet the bed.

Unfortunately, this myth is also not true.

If someone puts your hand in warm water while you sleep, you will wet the bed.

FALSE

If you drink Diet Coke and then eat a Mentos, your stomach will explode.

FALSE

It’s true that if you drop a pack of mentos in a bottle of Diet Coke, the candy’s properties react with the carbon dioxide in the soda to spew forth fizz. However, when you open and drink a D i e t Coke, it releases much of the pressurised carbon dioxide that forms the carbonation. As the soda warms while traveling to the stomach, the gas continues to vaporise. Any remaining gas might cause your stomach to expand, but it isn’t enough to spark a dangerous gassy rebellion if you chase the soda with a pack of Mentos.

You must have heard of this one too. Although muscle cramps in the calves, feet, and hands while swimming are not unknown, they are certainly not life threatening provided the swimmer does not panic. Cramps can be controlled by tensing and relaxing your muscles. So what does this have to do with food? Well, if you have food in your stomach you are likely to develop stomach cramps. Here’s why: To aid digestion the heart pumps a large volume of blood to the stomach. During exercise, the heart pumps blood to the muscles, and the flow of the blood to the stomach is greatly diminished. Without the blood supply, the stomach muscles suffer from lack of oxygen and, like any muscle without oxygen, develop cramps.

So what to do with this information? Ordinary levels of swimming will not cause cramps even if you have had a full meal. Likewise, strenuous sidestroking can still be safely undertaken after a snack or a light to moderatesized meal.

You can transport a house using balloons.

FALSE

Have you seen the movie UP, where an a old man transports his house using helium balloons?

Have you ever wondered if you could lift off using some balloons?

A team from National Geographic Geographi actually did transport a house using balloons. Using 300 helium-filled weather balloons, balloons a team of scientists, engineers, two balloon pilots and dozens of volunteers, managed to get a small house 10,000 feet into the air. Of course it was not a real house, but a custom custom-built light weight one. The producers said that it is actually close to impossible to fly a real house. But could you lift a person with balloons?

Well, a 20kg child will need 3,500 no normal helium balloons to successfully fly. I don’t think anybody has that many balloons lying about.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 9, 2013

Hi light

Every time you flush a toilet, it releases a spray of tiny tainted inted water droplets. So if, like many people, you leave your toothbrush in the vicinity of a toilet, does that mean it’s regularly bathed in bits of fecal matter? Astonishingly, it does not matter where you keep your toothbrush in the bathroom, it will have bits of fecal matter on it.

You will slip if you step on a banana peel.

FALSE

This myth started in the early 1900s when bananas became the most popular fruit in the United States. People would toss their scrap skins on the sidewalks, where they rotted and became slippery. Enough people slipped on the aging peels and were injured that many places banned littering. The myth then stuck around in comedy com films over the years.

Although the slick underside of a fresh banana skin is slippery — a Altho single peel won’t make you fall. If you're determined to make someone fall, try making them run on layers of peels. And the older the peels peels, the more slippery they will be. Don't have any aging banana peels? No worries. You can recreate the ol' banana peel trick by purposefully stepping on an old banana skin. It just isn't likely to happen by accident.

AaaCChOO O A a aA

a

Aa a

If your toothbrush is close to the toilet, it will have bits of fecal matter on it.

TRUE

3

aa

Can a forceful for "achoo" really put your eye out? Your eyes are actually quite secure, and your eye sockets aren't connected c to your nose at all. So, although lh h a sneeze can erupt from your nose at an explosive 321kph, it can't transfer this pressure into your eye sockets to pop out your eyeballs.

So why do your eyelids close when you sneeze? Quite simply, it's a reflex. Some people do sneeze with their eyes open.

If you sneeze with your eyes open, your eyeballs will pop out.

FALSE

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 9, 2013

4 Rock Dominoes It’s time to go rock collecting!

Supplies needed: • Flat Rocks • Black and white Acrylic paint

Instructions: Smooth flat stones aren’t just for skipping — they’re perfect for game pieces, too. For a set of dominoes, all you need is 28 stones and some black and white paint.

Go out in the garden to collect some rocks. Make sure that they are small and flat. After you collect them, use black acrylic paint to paint them. After they dry, use the white acrylic paint to make the lines and dots.

Begin by drawing a line across the centre of each. Then on either side of the line, mark with two sets of dots in every combination from zero to six. See the picture on the side to understand the combinations. You can store these in a small jar or a small felt bag for multiple plays.

Do you have any craft ideas? Drop us an email at hifive@tribune.com.pk

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 9, 2013

World wide weird

5

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

Do you have the recipe for the ultimate cheese on toast?

A search has been launched to find the perfect formula for the ultimate cheese on toast.

The British Cheese Board (BCB) has created the competition to celebrate one of Britain’s best-loved dishes. Encouraging cheese toastie fans to send in their personal favourite recipes, the BCB hopes to end the debate on the best method and ingredients for cooking the delicious snack.

From what type of cheese to use to how long it should stay under the grill, there are a number of different approaches which can be taken in the kitchen. ‘In celebrating this humble toasted snack, the BCB wants to remind people that cheese is a good value and easy way to feed a family,’ said secretary Nigel White. ‘We also hope to prompt people to think about the variety of British cheeses available, and show that our cheeses are among the best in the world.’ Cheese fans should submit their recipes to enquiries@ britishcheese.com. METRO.CO.UK

Tongue twister The whole of Germany is probably breathing a sigh of relief after a 63-letter word — Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz — was dropped from the language.

The huge word, which is the title of a beef regulating law, was one of the longest ever in the German language. As well as being a mouthful to pronounce, the word was also no longer needed after the EU said the country didn’t have to run BSE tests on healthy cattle anymore. Not everyone seemed pleased with the decision to ban the word but we think their objections may have been made in jest rather than having any serious concerns. Because of the way the country’s language works, a German word can in theory be never-ending. The longest official word ever from the nation was the 80-letter tongue twister — Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft. It translated as ‘Association for Subordinate Officials of the Head Office Management of the Danube Steamboat Electrical Services’.

The longest English word at the moment is only half that length at 45 letters. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a lung disease. TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

The Million Dollar Math Problem A stumped billionaire banker is offering a princely sum to anyone who can solve his million dollar maths problem. Dallas financer Andrew Beal will pay $1million to the genius who can find the solution to a numbers question that has been dogging mathematicians since the 80s.

The American Mathematical Society (AMS) said the huge sum would be awarded for the publication of the answer to the Beal Conjecture number theory problem. Mr Beal first offered the prize in 1997 for $5,000, with the amount growing substantially over the years.

AMS spokesman Michael Breen says a solution is more difficult than the one for a related problem, Fermat’s Last Theorem, which remained unsolved for hundreds of years. Beal is a self-taught mathematician and says he wants to inspire young people to pursue math and science. NDTV.COM

Books and Movies

by Zehra Husain

Roald Dahl and the gobblefunkery of the unreal “Don’t gobblefunk around with words,” wrote Roald Dahl in The BFG (Big Friendly Giant).

This is exactly what Roald Dahl does, he gobblefunks around with words and breathes life into characters strange, cynical, and loveable and some so despicable, it’ll take nine or more lives for you to forgive them.

Take for instance, Miss Trunchbull — scrawny little Matilda’s big, bossy principal.

She’s the nightmare of nightmares, the fear of the weak-hearted; the bane of Miss Honey’s existence. And who puts her in her place? Heroic Matilda with her magical powers that Dahl provided her with splendid gobblefunkery.

Speaking of gobble, for those who have hearty stomachs, and a giddy candy fetish, Dahl brings you his magnum opus, Charlie

Scaredy-cat

Games of cat and mouse are usually too close to call. Mango the cat looked beaten before he’d even started. Rather than pouncing on and devouring the intruder, he spent several minutes eyeing him up — from a safe distance. Eventually he plucked up the courage to walk over, took a quick look and slunk away. The mouse carried on, oblivious to the threat.

The five-year-old feline from Brighton let natural curiosity overcome his instincts. Owner Chris Brown, 35, said: ‘When I came downstairs I spotted Mango sitting staring closely at his bowl. When I glanced across I was surprised to see a mouse sitting in the bowl and calmly helping itself to his food. ‘Mango didn’t seem to know quite what to do and appeared a lot more afraid of the mouse than it did of him. He made do with water. ‘At one point he backed the mouse into a corner. But he didn’t touch a hair on its head and the mouse went on its way after eating its fill.’ DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

and the chocolate factory. Take a note here; this is not just an ordinary chocolate factory, its Willy Wonka’s self-created heaven, described by Dahl in an almost biblical fashion. Chocolate rivers, melted waterfalls, edible grass are all part of this grandiose confectionary.

With bits of food stuck in their beards, The Twits will leave you squirming in your seats.

George’s selfish grandmother makes you want to save him from his is daily ordeals — but a marvelous medicine does oes the trick. James and his friends in the giant nt peach make you wish you were as sweet as the ladybird and as grumpy as the earthworm m — the invertebrate is only happy, when gloomy. my my.

Coupled with Quentin Blake’s skeletal illustrations, Roald Dahl’ss books are a dream come true. If you don’t believe elieve me, wait till lent giant, The BFG, the world’s most benevolent blows some your way.

Do you have a favourite book that was made into a movie?

Send an email about it to Faiza at hifive@tribune.com.pk

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 9, 2013

Did you know?

6

s n i g i r O d r o W Peruse It turns out, “peruse” does not mean “to skim” or “to glance through” or “read quickly” or the like, as it is often used. It actually means quite the opposite of that, meaning “to read thoroughly or carefully” or “examine carefully at great length”.

This meaning comes from the commonly accepted origin of “peruse”, which was from the combination of the words “per” and “use”; this literally translates from the compounded Latin and French words to “use thoroughly”. This then eventually morphed to meaning more like “survey thoroughly” and today more meaning “survey text thoroughly”.

How to Say ‘January’ in many different languages.

Afrikaans Albanian Asturian Azerbaijani Basque Corsican Czech Danish Dutch Estonian Ewe Fijian Finnish French Galician German Greenlandic Haitian Indonesian Korean Turkish

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

Januarie Janar Xineru Yanvar Urtarril Ghjennaghju Leden Januar Januari Jaanuar Dzove Jaanueri Tammikuu Janvier Xaneiro Januar Januari Creole janvye Januari ilweol Ocak

Cool facts Rice has more varieties than any other fruit or vegetable, nearly 15,000!

There are about 5,000 varieties of tomato, and 7,500 varieties of apples.

The cabbage contains almost as much water as watermelon. Watermelon is 92% water, cabbage is 90%. Carrots are not too far behind with a water content of 87%.

Peanuts are not nuts, they are part of the pea family.

Tomatoes are not a vegetable, they are a fruit. They were once considered a type of apple by France and Italy and used to be yellow, not orange or red.

Potato plants are grown from cutting up a potato into pieces and planting them in the ground. Each piece eventually grows into a separate potato plant.

Pumpkins and avocados are fruits not a vegetable.

Twelve lychees have less than seventy calories.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 9, 2013

7

Fun & games

Crossword

How carefully did you read this week’s issue of HiFive? If you think you are upto the task, try to solve our special crossword. The answers are all over HiFive! Put on your thinking caps, it is time to put the old noggin to work!

Across 4. ‘Ocak’ means January in _______.

6. ‘Yanvar’ means January in _______.

8. Willy Wonka’s __________ factory has chocolate rivers and edible grass.

9. Peanuts are not ____.

13. Tomatoes used to be ______, not orange or red.

16. The BCB had launched a search to find the perfect formula for ________ on toast.

17. Pumpkins and avocados are_______ not a vegetable.

18. Andrew Beal will pay $1 _______ to the person who solves a really difficult math problem.

19. “Don’t ____________ around with words,” wrote Roald Dahl.

20. _____ has nearly 15,000 varieties.

Down 1. ________ were once considered a type of apple by France and Italy.

2. _________ means January in Korean.

3. Miss ____________ is Matilda’s bossy principal.

5. _________ means January in Asturian.

7.

A 20kg child will need 3,500 normal helium ________ to successfully fly 10. A ________ can erupt from your nose at an explosive 321kph.

11. Matilda had ________ powers.

12. There are about 7,500 varieties of _______.

14. The cabbage contains almost as much water as ___________.

15. This week’s activity is about _______ made out of rocks!

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 9, 2013

Comic strip

STORY CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

© LAAJVERD. LISTEN IN AT AAMAWAAM.ORG

From Our Readers

Maha Aijaz

Age: 6 Mahm Anas Age: 8