The Express Tribune hi five - May 19

e n u b tri 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

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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, MAY 19, 2013

Hi light Light Hi

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Ever heard about the International Space Station (ISS)? It is the biggest object ever flown in space.

How big? It measures 290 feet in length and 356 feet in width (It is taller than the Minar-e-Pakistan!). It travels around the Earth and can orbit it 16 times every day! At night it can easily be seen from Earth, as it flies 320 kilometres above us.

Sixteen countries, including the USA, Russia, Japan, Canada and many European countries worked together to build the Station. How much did it cost?

96 billion dollars!

Now you must be wondering, how such a big thing was sent into space. Well, it wasn’t sent there... it was actually built there! Since the Space Station is made of many pieces, all of the pieces were sent into space, where astronauts put it all together, just like a giant puzzle.

So what does it do? Well, it orbits around Earth and it is a home for astronauts. They live, eat, sleep and conduct experiments on the Space Station.

SPACE 101

Do you have questions about the ISS or space? Astronaut Chris Hadfield spent 140 days on the ISS and while he was there he actually answered a lot of questions from the Space Station. Here are the best ones: Q: How often do you hit your head on things on a daily basis?

I hit my head about once per day!

Q: What time zone do you live by? Do you switch off the lights at ‘night’?

We live on Greenwich time, UTC, same as London, England. We shut off most lights at bedtime — it feels right to do it.

Q: Which part of the world looks the coolest from space?

Australia looks coolest — the colours and textures of the Outback are severely artistic. The most beautiful to me are the Bahamas, the vast glowing reefs of every shade of blue that exists.

Q: Do meteors ever hit the Space Station? Do you hear them hit? What about things like the solar panels? They look delicate.

We get peppered by micrometeorites all the time, but the Station has armour.

It won’t stop a big one, but we have emergency response procedures if we get a puncture. Sometimes we hear pings as tiny rocks hit our spaceship, and also the creaks and snaps of expanding metal as we go in and out of sunlight. The solar

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

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, MAY 19, 2013

3 panels are full of tiny holes from the micro-meteorites.

Q: What does space smell like? Is your sense of smell altered at all being up there?

Space itself has no smell but when we come in from a spacewalk, the airlock smells like ozone or gunpowder. It likely comes from the outer metal and the fabric of our suits.

Q: How do you use the internet on the ISS? My laptop here communicates to a computer in Houston via satellite and that is hooked to the internet. It is very slow, not fast enough to watch video, but perfect for simple websites.

Q: Have you done any space walks? If so, what was it like?

It was the most magnificent experience of my life. I was alone in my suit, just holding on with one hand, with the bottomless black universe on my left and the world pouring by on my right. I highly recommend it.

Q: What’s your favourite thing to do in zero gravity that you can’t do on earth?

Simply fly — to push off and glide magically to the other end of the Station. It makes me smile to myself, every time.

Q: How hard is it to sleep out there in space?

I love sleeping weightless. There is no mattress or pillows. Just relax every muscle in your body and drift off to sleep.

Q: What would happen if any of you get injured or sick?

I’m a trained Emergency Medical Technician and my colleague on the ISS is a doctor, plus we have a basic pharmacy onboard. If it were really bad, we’d get in our Soyuz spacecraft and return to Earth.

Q: How long did it take you to learn how to manoeuvre in zero gravity? Are you much better at it now than when you originally came aboard the ISS? I’m still learning! Sometimes I’m very graceful, other times I miss a handrail and crash into the wall.

Q: What is the prettiest thing to look at from space?

The aurora (northern and southern lights). It’s like a fantastic continuous light show, just shimmering and dancing there.

Q: Do you ever get lost inside the Space Station?

I never get lost in the Space Station, but I often have to look around to decide which way I want to use as ‘up’ right now. Maybe this is how fish and spiders feel.

Q: What does launch feel like?

Launch is immensely powerful, and you can truly feel yourself in the centre of it, like riding an enormous wave, or being pushed and lifted by a huge hand, or shaken in the jaws of a gigantic dog. The vehicle shakes and vibrates, and you are pinned hard down into your seat by the acceleration. As one set of engines finishes and the next starts, you are thrown forward and then shoved back. The weight of acceleration is like an enormous fat person lying on top of you, until suddenly, after 9 minutes, the engine shuts off and you are instantly weightless. Magic. Like a gorilla was squishing you and then threw you off a cliff. Quite a ride!

Q: Have you ever seen aliens?

No astronaut has ever seen an alien, despite what everyone would like you to believe, though we are, of course actively looking; it’s one of the basic purposes of exploration.

Hi light

Q: How do you poop in space?

Our Space Station toilet is very small and uses airflow in place of gravity. When waste comes out of the body, either solid or liquid, it is pulled into the toilet by airflow. The urine is mixed with other waste water (humidity, water samples, etc) and purified back into drinking water. The solid waste is collected in a small sewage tank and put into an unmanned re-supply ship. The tank is then jettisoned and burns up in the upper atmosphere.

Q: How’s the food?

Space food is fine, tasty and of good variety. It’s limited to food that has a long shelf life, with no refrigeration and no microwave. The majority of it is dehydrated, so we add cold or hot water to it, like instant noodles, soup and powdered drinks.

Q: What do you have to do to become an astronaut?

Astronaut selection requires three fundamental tenets: health, brains, and experience. You have to be able to pass the toughest medical in the world to be a Space Station astronaut, so stay in shape and eat right. You have to demonstrate the ability to learn complex things, so an advanced technical university degree is needed. And you have to demonstrate good decision-making when the consequences really matter, so it’s important to have work experience such as a medical doctor, or test pilot, or saturation diver. Other skills will also help: languages, flying experience, diving experience, personality, attitude and how you present yourself. Above all, a driving, fundamental desire to be an astronaut is required, to successfully endure the life demands of the job.

Q: What is the best part of living on the ISS? The best part is being weightless forever. It is like magic. It is like having a superpower where you can fly. You can fly forever.

Q: What do you hate about being in space? What’s the worst part?

I don’t hate anything about it. The worst part at first is motion sickness, then later that you can never have a good shower. You can’t properly clean your body like you can on earth. You can only just have a sponge bath.

Q: What do you actually do on the Space Station?

The Space Station has 130 experiments running simultaneously, from studying the human heart to collecting dark matter from the universe to measuring the health of Earth’s atmosphere. We run the experiments, the Station and fix everything that breaks.

Q: What does the Space Station smell like to you?

The Station has no distinctive smell — it is clean and well-maintained, like being inside an airliner.

Q: How do you scratch your nose when you’re wearing one of those space-suits?

We have a squishy thing inside we jam our nose into while we clear our ears — we scratch our nose on that.

Q: What’s it like playing the guitar in space?

The Space Station is noisy, as the fans and pumps have to move the air to keep us alive. So it sounds like playing in the back of a bus. The best part is that the guitar floats in front of you. You don’t need a strap!

Q: What type of fun games do astronauts play up there?

ISS end-end races, hide and go seek, and velcro darts.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, MAY 19, 2013

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Rock Necklaces Want to make a cool necklace?

Try this activity out!

: d e d e e n s e i l p p u S A small rock Coloured wire Scissors Pencil Needle-nose

Instructions: 1. Place the rock at the centre of a 15-inch-long piece of wire and wrap the wire around the rock a few times to secure it.

2. Twist together the ends, and then wrap the twist around a pencil to form a loop. Use pliers to close the loop, and then cut off any excess wire.

3. To finish, thread a necklace-length piece of leather cord through the loop and knot the ends.

4. Give one to your best friend. You can paint your name on one side and your best friend’s name on the other!

Pliers Colored leather cord

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

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, MAY 19, 2013

World wide weird

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

Say Cheese!

A real life Jungle Book duo

A set of photos about to go under the hammer are so fuzzy and out of focus they look like they were taken by a monkey. But you’d be wrong — it was a chimpanzee, called Mikki.

The 15-year-old was trained to take photos by contemporary artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid after they discovered the primate at the Moscow Circus. Mikki was encouraged to take pictures with a Polaroid before he switched to an analogue camera and then began to use an antique one.

His blurred interpretation of the city’s Red Square are to form part of an exhibition called Our Moscow Through The Eyes Of Mikki. Collectors are expected to go bananas when they are auctioned by Sotheby’s for between £50,000 to £70,000.

The images are part of a larger collection by Komar and Melamid called Collaboration With Animals and which questions human superiority. The project started in 1978 with a drawing by a dog and carried on into the 1990s with paintings created with elephants.

METRO.CO.UK

Baa Baa GaGa A black and white sheep named after a Battenberg cake because of his two-toned face has shocked a family of farmers. The lamb has a unique face, with one half light and the other dark, which may have saved it from freezing to death in the Welsh hills because it was easier to spot. ‘We haven’t seen a lamb like it before,’ said farmer’s wife Marianne Griffiths.

‘You either get a white lamb or a black one — but not a half-and-half one.’ Battenberg’s strange tone, similar to the two colours present in the cake of the same name, may again prevent it from an early grave. The sheep could now be kept on as a pet instead of being turned into a lamb dish.

Mum-of-three Marianne, 44, added: ‘Battenberg is a real mixture which is a surprise because both his mother and father are white. ‘He was born while we were having a tough time of it during the terrible snow that fell in March. The four-week-old sheep has legs that are also a mixture of black and white, with its wool a greyish colour. DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

Books and Movies

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Every story has to come to an end — and it’s no different for the real-life Jungle Book duo Emily Bland and her orangutan friend Rishi. The six-year-old schoolgirl from Hertfordshire, UK, who struck up a unique friendship with Rishi in 2008, has had to say goodbye to her primate because he’s grown too big for her.

But it was all smiles and fond farewells as the pair were reunited for one last picnic at Rishi’s home in South Carolina, where they were also pictured playing in a water fountain.

The youngsters first struck up their friendship when photographer Barry Bland took his daughter to a reserve in Miami for an assignment. The two hit it off, and Bland has been taking Emily on return trips ever since.

However, Rishi is now 4st 9lb and already strong enough to pick up adult humans. His weight is set to double within 18 months.

Dr Bhagavan Antle of Myrtle Beach Safari, where Rishi now lives, said the orangutan is simply going to be too big this time next year.

‘He’s not aggressive at all, but it may be too much to expose them to each other in a year’s time.’ DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

Holy smokes, Batman!

The Dark Knight looks set to take centre stage at this year’s Gumball 3000 rally with one race team unveiling an exact replica of Batman’s famous Tumbler car. International racing crew Team Galag will stand out from the crowd in their version of the sleek jet black supercar driven by Batman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy.

Commissioned by Florida-based Parker Brothers Concepts, the team have reportedly invested over £1million to create the impressive Batmobile racer. The tank-like vehicle will be showcased in London later this month before heading for the starting line in Copenhagen.

‘One of our team members is crazy about all things Dark Knight, and it’s been an idea of his to build a Tumbler for a while now,’ explains the Team Galag official website. ‘So we thought why not go one step further and do it in time for this year’s Gumball. The international road rally is not your average race, with more emphasis being placed on the cars rather than the speed they are going. METRO.CO.UK

by Faiza Rahman

Thank you, Enid Blyton!

I can never thank Enid Blyton enough for her wonderful books. A childhood devoid of the magic of flyaway cottages, enchanted forests and wishing chairs is, I believe, a childhood not-sowell-lived.

Once you start reading Blyton’s stories, the world of pixies, gnomes, enchanters and fairies will pull you in. You will see goblins squabble over freshly made lemonade and pixies steal peppermints from sweetshops. You will go to parties thrown by rabbits, watch goblins steal chocolate buns and even spot one wearing a coat stitched of snow. You will meet lazy Lenny who never buys a spade of his own, visit Topsy Turvy village where everyone wears their shoes on their heads and hats on their feet, feel sorry for the doll with straight hair who sits alone in the toyshop because no one ever buys her, be angry at Snicker the brownie who keeps pinching all his friends and sympathise with the poor three bold pixies who get into truckloads of trouble just to buy some cream for their pie.

The best part is that these stories aren’t just stories; while you enjoy them, you will end up appreciating the many moral lessons they contain.

Sharing goodies, being nice to your friends, and following rules are some popular lessons from Blyton’s stories.

Enid Blyton even wrote the entire Famous Five, Secret Seven and Adventure Series for older children. I remember reading the entire Secret Seven series countless times! The books were so addictive!

It doesn’t end here though. The Naughtiest Girl series are a must for all those who want to know nks at Whyteleafe, all about Elizabeth Allen’s pranks her boarding school. You won’tt be able to stop at Elizabeth and her laughing at all the mischief that friends, Joan, Arabella, Robert and Kathleen, make in their dorms. n has the Malory For girls in their teens, Blyton Towers and St Clares series. Having said all that, what are you waiting for? Go choose an Enid hocolate, and curl up Blyton book, make some hot chocolate, e hours of reading! in bed for some very enjoyable

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, MAY 19, 2013

Did you know?

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s n i g i r O d r o W Days of the Week Ever wonder how each day of the week got its name?

Ancient Mesopotamian astrologers assigned each day the name of a god. The Greeks later called these days “theon hemerai”, or if that’s all Greek to you, “days of the Gods”.

Monday was named for the moon. It could be translated as “Moon’s day”. Tuesday is the first to be named after a god. It was named for Tiu, or Twia, a lesser-known god of war and the sky. Wednesday can be translated as “Woden’s day”. Woden, associated with the Norse god Odin, was the chief god and leader of the wild hunt in Anglo-Saxon mythology. Thursday is one of the easiest days to translate, meaning “Thor’s day”, named for the Norse god of thunder and lightning. Friday is associated with Freya, the Norse goddess of love and marriage.

Saturday in English derives from “Saturn’s day”. Saturn was a Roman god who was associated with wealth and time. Sunday is “Sun’s day”, translated in both Latin and Greek as “day of the sun”.

How to say ‘I miss you’ in many different languages.

Afrikaans Aragonese Basque Catalan Corsican Danish Dutch Esperanto Estonian Haitian Creole Indonesian Irish (Gaelic) Japanese Kinyarwanda Korean Malay Maltese Nahuatl Somali Spanish Swedish Tatar

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

Ek mis jou Me fas falta Faltan zaitut Et trobo a faltar Mi manchi Jeg savner dig Ik mis je Vi mankas al mi Ma igatsen sind Mwen sonje w Saya rindu kamu Cronaím leat Anata ga inakute sabishii desu Ndagukumbuye naneun nega geuliwo Aku rindu pada mu Nimmissjak Nimitlailnamiqui Waayadan kuma arag Te echo de menos Jag saknar dig Sine sagınam

Cool facts The tool doctors wrap around a patient’s arm to measure blood pressure is called a sphygmomanometer.

A shrimp’s heart is in its head.

Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.

Mangoes belong to the same family of plant as poison ivy...cool huh?

Passion fruit is sweetest when slightly wrinkled.

Pear trees are able to withstand temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius.

Passion fruit were first grown in Brazil.

Oranges are the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world.

You can rub the inside of a banana skin on mosquito bites to stop the itchiness.

The passion fruit flower is the national fruit of Paraguay.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, MAY 19, 2013

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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 3. What is the name of the black and white sheep?

6. If the astronauts get really sick, they can get in the ________ spacecraft and return to Earth.

8. Astronaut _______ Hadfield spent 140 day on the ISS 9. ‘Ik mis je’ means ‘I miss you’ in _________.

10. A shrimp’s heart is in its _______.

12. The International _________ Station 14. Monday was named for the _______.

15. Passion fruit were first grown in ________.

18. What is the tool used to measure blood pressure?

19. The passion fruit flower is the national fruit of which country?

20. What is the name of the photographer chimp?

Down 1. The ISS cost 96 _______ Dollars 2. Lemons contain more sugar than ___________.

4. Emily Bland has a furry friend. His name is ________.

5. What is Batman’s famous car called?

7.

Space smells like ozone or ___________.

11. Wednesday is named after which Norse god?

13. According to Hadfield, _________ looks the coolest from space.

16. The ISS was built by USA, ______ , Japan, Canada and many European countries 17. Enid Blyton wrote the Famous _______, Secret Seven and Adventure series.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, MAY 19, 2013

Comic strip

STORY CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

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From Our Readers

Faizan Syed

Age: 6

Reshail Age: 8