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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Hi light

e most often think of pirates together with tropical islands in the Caribbean. This is because the Caribbean, which is comprised of lots of little islands was the perfect place for pirates to hide or to attack merchant vessels.

There were hundreds of safe places where pirates could clean and repair their ships. Merchant ships from Africa, loaded with ivory, gold and slaves passed by these islands. Spanish treasure ships loaded with silver from Central America made their way out into the Atlantic and were the greatest prize for a pirate crew.

For centuries pirates have ruled the high seas, terrorised merchants, created havoc along the coast and given birth to countless myths and legends.

They travelled on ships around the world plundering other ships they came across, capturing the crew and then selling them of as slaves. Piracy has been around for a very long time, dating as far back as the 1st century. However, the 18th century is regarded as the ‘Golden Age’ for pirates.

Life on board a pirate ship was rarely the adventure we see in the movies. It was unpleasant, dangerous and often short. However it was usually better than rotting in a jail or suffering the appalling conditions on board a warship. The main draw of piracy for many people was probably freedom from established authority. That said, the lure of treasure undoubtedly played its part. Few real pirates ever became rich. Most “earned” enough to have a small party when they touched port and little more.

Hollywood and pirate novels would have you believe that pirates were swashbucklers living a life of pleasure on the seas, fighting only when they had to. They make it easy to see past the fact that they were stealing gold and other valuables by making the people they were stealing it from seem worse than them. Early pirates were often cast as evil villains, the scourge of the seven seas who would threaten the plucky hero. Today the trend seems to be more towards pirates as loveable rogues fighting against a corrupt and heartless system.

The reality, of course, was far less glamorous. Real pirates were horrible people you wouldn’t want to be within 20 yards of, and not just because they hardly ever bathed.

The Jolly Roger Where would a pirate be without a flag? That infamous black flag, the Jolly Roger struck fear into the hearts of pirates’ prey and is today an essential part of any pirate movie. Pirate ships would sail under “false colours” the flag of whichever country dominated the waters they were in. Then, as they closed on their target, they would remove the false colour and replace it with the Jolly Roger.

There are several possible origins of the name “Jolly Roger”. One theory is that it comes from the French “jolie rouge”, the red flag used by some of the early pirates. Some later pirates also flew a red flag to indicate that no mercy would be given and no prisoners taken. A black flag would be flown first to give the victims time to surrender. If they didn’t do so then the red flag would be hoisted and the attack commenced.

When you buy a pirate flag from a store today it will almost certainly be black with a white skull and either crossed bones or crossed swords. While many original pirate flags contained those elements, the design varied tremendously. Each captain and ship had its own design. This provided a sense of camaraderie amongst the crew as well as stroking the captain’s ego! Some of the most famous pirates didn’t fly the skull and crossbones at all for instance the flag of Blackbeard (Edward Teach) showed a full skeleton holding an hourglass and a spear.

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

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

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Hi light

Fun stuff • Did you know that during his execution in 1730, pirate Oliver Levasseur tossed a coded message into the crowd, screaming; “Find my treasure, he who may understand it!” People are still trying!

• Some pirate ships were no fun. The infamous Bartholomew Roberts, for example, didn’t allow gambling, fighting and everyone was supposed to be in bed by eight o’ clock. Sounds every bit as awesome and adventurous as being grounded.

• Most real pirate ships were a lot smaller than they are in the movies.

The legendary Calico Jack Rackham actually spent much of his career in a ship that was nothing more than a fishing boat with a few guns.

• “Walking the Plank” was not a common means of pirate execution.

Pirates’ preferred means of punishment was keelhauling, which h meant tying their victims to a rope and dragging them under the he ship. Considering that ships’ hulls tended to accumulate debris from the water, this tended to result either in wounds (if the victim ctim was dragged quickly) or drowning (if slowly). not black • Pirate Piratte sships hips p did n ot have bla lac sails. They did have black (or red) la d)) flags whi which featured variations of the skull and crossbones, butt tthe w wh hich c featur red e variatio he actual sails were white, a sa aiilss we re wh hite, the ssame as other ships of the era. Sailss were expensive, pirates were ee xpensi nsive, and p irates used the regular white sails that came am me with stolen wit ith ttheir heir sto tollen e ships. buried their treasure. Since they didn’t expect to live • Pirates Pirat Pi ate es never b u ed the uri eir i tre liv ive very considering business they were in, they just spentt a allll verry llong, ong, cons siide dering the e bu the m money! mo oney! to find a village’s gold, cutting out • There’s There e’s a story off a pirate, ttrying r g ou ut one prisoner’s heart on ne pr p iso oner’s hea artt to feed d tto another. And Blackbeard is known wn tto o have off women’s hav ave ccut ut o ff wome en’s ’ fingerss to obtain their diamond rings.

• While women While ew om men were e cconsidered onsider too weak to be pirates, there were ere actually quite female pirates. Anne Bonny and Mary Read a ctu ual a lyy qu uite a few w fe emale p d were most famous, w ere e the t em ost famo ous, but tthere were others as well. Many of them disguised themselves as men, but it seems that was more th hem md issgu uised them mselves a e to protect prot tec ect tthemselves he emselves tthan han for any other reason.

Eyepatches, and • Ey Eyep pat a ch hess, parrotss a nd peg legs were not Hollywood creations. s.

There T he ere e are ar accounts accountss of of parrots parrot being kept as pets by some pirates, es, and, given business a nd d, g ivven n the nasty ty b usines piracy was, it’s quite likely that some ome needed eyepatches and ne eeded e ey ed es a nd had peg legs. pirates from lack of vitamin C, which • While While e at sea, pirat tess often ssuffered u ch resulted getting disease called Scurvy. This resulted result ltted d in them mg etting a d i in them th hem losing sight sig ght in one e of their eyes. Though many Pirates wore eye-patches because they lost their eyes in battle, many wo ore ee ye-patch hes becaus se th wore eye-patches worre e ye-pattche hes as a re result of scurvy. had pierced ears. This was not really a fashion • Many Ma y Pirates Pirates es h ad pierce ced ea

DESIGN: MAH DE MAHA AHA H AH HAIDER AND JAMAL KHURSHID

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accessory to go with eye patches. hes. They ey did this because they believed that piercing the ears improved mp proved one’s on eyesight.

Pirates believed that having women board ome om men on bo oard their ship was bad d luck. They also believed that whi whistling wh stlin st ing on a shi sship p would cause the weather to turn stormy (as in ‘to whistle to o whis wh istle up a storm’).

Almost all pirates stole their ships because they couldn’t buy ships in case they got caught and sent to jail. Once they had taken over a ship they had to convert it for pirate life, this usually meant making more room for sailors to live on board and strengthening the decks to hold the weight of the heavy cannons.

Pirate Captain’s would change out of their expensive, flashy clothes if ther there was a ch chance might captured.

This they re w cha ance n they mig ghtt be captur red. T his wayy th ey could pretend were onlyy one of tthe not somebody d tthey hey w ere r onl o he e crew, and d no ot somebo ody important hopefully ta and d hopefu fullyy escape. es The pirates called themselves Gang Th he pirat ates who o ca alle ed themselve es the Flying G an ng g all knew another, had together naval kkne ew one ne a ne nothe er, rh ad d served toge eth ther in nava al and a merchant an merch rrcc an ant vessels, vesssels, s,, and and operated oper p ated d for for a veryy short period off time time: years sho sh ort pe per eriod o e: fo fourr to ten year rs rs starting 1714.

They sta tart rting ng iin n 171 14. The ey iincluded ncl n cluded many of tthe most famous pirates he mo ost fam mous p ira atess in history, including Blackbeard, Sam Bellamy inclu uding g Blackb beard, S am B ellamy of Whydah the “gentleman dah ah ffame, ame, th he “gen ntle eman pirate” Stede Bonnet, bombastic e Bo Bon onnet, the e bomb bassticc Charles Vane, Calico Rackham, and Cal Ca a icco Jack R ackha am, a nd the women Mary n pirates, pirates, Ma ary Read Rea ad and an nd Anne Bonny.

Sir Henry Morgan, Sir Francis Drake, ryy M organ, S ir Fra anccis D rake, and Captain weren’t Capt pta tain n Kidd w eren’t really re eallyy pirates.

They were wer erre privateers, ere privateerrs, mercenaries merrce ena aries who had permission governments perm missiion from m theirr go ove ernments to o attack en enemy shipping wartime.

Morgan, nemy shippi ing in w artiime. Morgan n, far from b being outlaw, was ein ng an an n outla aw, w as rewarded ffor what only or w hat he did. Not on nly was he kn the kknighted nigh hted and d given n th he title ‘Sir’, made deputy r’,, he was ma ade de epu uty governor Jamaica. orr off Jamaica a.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Activity Corner

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Milk Carton Pirate Ship Supplies needed: • 2 milk cartons • 2 straws • playdough • yellow, black and white construction paper • glue • scissors • tape

Method:

• Tape a piece of construction paper about 1/2 way up the milk carton as shown in the photo to the right.

• Tape black construction paper all the way up the back of the milk carton, leaving about one inch sticking up over the carton • Tape white construction paper over the rest of the milk carton • Glue two blobs of playdough into the centre of the pirate ship • Cut a two to three inch piece off the bottom of the second milk carton.

• Tape it onto the ship (covering the playdough).

• Poke two holes in it (with a pencil) right above the playdough blobs.

• Cover with white construction paper • Stick two straws through the holes you poked in the top carton.

• Cut two large rectangles and two small rectangles from yellow construction paper • Poke two holes in each rectangle with scissors or a hole punch and thread onto the straws as masts.

• Draw windows and a door with markers.

• Cut yellow circles and glue them to the side of the ship as portholes.

• Add a gangplank made of cardboard.

Alternative: Use craft foam instead of construction paper and you’ll have a ship that you can play with in the bathtub.

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

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

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

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

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Mighty mistake

Medusa — world’s longest snake This python has slithered into a place where few snakes have gone: Guinness World Records.

She’s named Medusa and the 25 footlong, 350 pounder, has been confirmed as the longest snake ever in captivity.

The eight year old reptile is on display at The Edge of Hell, a haunted attraction based in Kansas City. She spends her days scaring customers who are already afraid of snakes — not just gigantic ones.

Medusa’s handler Larry Edgar says, “We try to keep Medusa wellfed and slightly out of reach as there have been instances with reticulated pythons where they’ve had to cut people out of them!”

So far, Medusa does pretty well on a diet that includes rabbits, hogs and deer, served to her every two weeks.

SOURCE: HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

Finger fish It’s a stomachturning discovery almost impossible to believe.

A fisherman found a human finger in the belly of a trout caught in a remote northern Idaho lake.

And detectives located the owner, who delivered a surprising message: Haans Galassi said he did not want to be reunited with his severed digit.

“At first the sheriff asked me if I wanted it back, and I was thinking ‘um, no!” Galassi, 31, said.

He was wakeboarding on Priest Lake in July when he lost four fingers. Galassi was rushed to the hospital and has been trying to get by without his missing fingers.

Since Galassi said he did not want his finger back, the sheriff’s department will leave it in an evidence freezer in case he changes his mind. SOURCE: EDITION.CNN.COM

King of Burgers In an effort to truly stand and out from the crowd, Burger King Japan has designed fast food’s first black hamburger. The chain’s franchises are offering the pitch black burger to mark its fifth anniversary in the e land l of the rising sun.

The buns are made from dough mixed with bamboo charcoal, and between them is paprika and tomato beef...slathered with black squid ink ketchup.

Served with fries and a drink, the creation has been imaginatively dubbed the ‘kuro’, or ‘black’ burger. Available for a limited time only, the kuro will be staying in Japan. A spokesman for Burger King UK said there are no plans to add it to the menus in their British restaurants. SOURCE: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

These mighty beats are better admired from a safe distance and that is a lesson David Villalobos will remember all his life after he got mauled by a tiger at the Bronx Zoo while attempting “to be one with the tiger”.

He suffered bites and punctures on his arms, legs, shoulders and back, and a broken arm and a leg but claimed that despite his serious injuries, he was able to pet the 400pound tiger.

Villalobos was alone with a male Siberian tiger named Bashuta for about 10 minutes before he was rescued by zoo officials, who used a fire extinguisher to chase the animal away.

The 25 year old Villalobos admitted to a police officer that he made a conscious decision to jump from an elevated train into the animal’s den, but that his motives were unclear. Based on his statement and a complaint from the zoo the police have said that the hospitalised Villalobos would be arrested and charged with trespassing.

Zoo officials said the tiger who mauled the man is well and did nothing wrong. SOURCE: CBC.CA

Comfortable drive to… prison This is as creative as it can get! An illegal immigrant tried to enter Spain pretending to be a car seat but failed to outwit the officials.

Vigilant police caught the 20yearold man from Guinea attempting to sneak into the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco over the BeniEnzar crossing.

He was hidden inside a Renault 7’s passenger seat, while the codriver sat on top of him.

The insides of the seat had been discarded, leaving only the frame which he conveniently slid into.

Guardia Civil officers had to help the man out of his hiding place, later describing his attempt to pass undetected as ‘unique and innovative’.

The two Moroccan men, aged 21 and 23, who allegedly tried to smuggle him across the border were arrested and will appear before a court accused of people smuggling later this week.

The man was also detained and appeared before a judge. He has now been expelled from the enclave.

SOURCE: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

Russian bling Call it the Soviet Union’s most valuable cold war secret.

Russia has declassified the existence of what could very well be the richest diamond field in existence, located in the depths of a 62mile diameter asteroid crater known as Popigai Astroblem in Siberia.

The diamonds found here are known as “impact diamonds.” They’re created when a meteor strikes a graphite deposit, which is exactly what happened there an estimated 35 million years ago. Impact diamonds are significantly harder than normal diamonds, and are best suited for industrial or scientific use.

Given that gemquality diamonds can sell for $2,000 (Rs189,600) per carat, a discovery of “trillions of carats” could value this field in the quadrillions of dollars.

SOURCE: TECCA.COM

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Did you know?

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s n i g i r O d r o W Decimate Have you ever read something like, “The tsunami completely decimated the coastal areas,” and wondered about the word ‘decimate’?

We usually use the it as another word for demolish, annihilate or destroy, however, it originally had a different meaning. The word comes from a punishment carried out ion that by the Roman Army. Decimation was carried out to punish a legion oldiers being killed by their own was cowardly or mutinous. It involved one tenth of the legions soldiers comrades. The soldiers were divided into groups of ten, and each group drew lots. Out of the ten, whoever was selected was stripped of his armour and beaten or stoned to death by the other nine soldiers in the group. This way one in every ten soldiers was killed so a tenth of the legion was destroyed, hence decimated since ‘decem’ means ten in Latin and ‘decimation’ means ‘removal of a tenth’ in Latin. All the soldiers who took part in the decimation were eligible for execution due to their actions, as a result those who survived were further punished since they were given barley rations instead of wheat, and were forced to sleep outside the encampment.

Learn how to speak like a pirate!

Squall

Storm

Lad

A boy, aka laddy

Aye

Yes (aye aye = yes sir)

Arrr

Yes, I agree, hmmm

Lubber

Land lover, not a sailor, a wimpy person

Blighter

A bad, gross person

Swab

A sailor, usually one of low rank

Matey

Mate or friend

Blaggards

Aka blackguards, a scoundrel or jerk

Shiver Me Timbers

Scary, makes my bones shake

Batten Down the Hatches Tie down the hatches, shut your mouth Cry Havoc

From Shakespeare, meaning to start a war

Davy Jone’s Locker

Bottom of the sea, death, Jones is evil spirit that preys upon sailors

Bite the Bullet

Be brave

Smart as Paint

Smart, fresh, new, honest

French Leave

Sneak off and abandon your shipmates, cowardly

Parley

Discussion between enemies

Irons

Handcuffs and shackles

Cool facts Worms eat their own poo.

Over 1,000 birds a year die from smashing into windows.

The inventor of the Waffle Iron did not like waffles.

In 1895 Hampshire police handed out the first ever speeding ticket, fining a man for doing 6mph!

Each year, there are more than 40,000 toilet related injuries in the United States.

Every year more than 2,500 left handed people are killed from using right handed products.

China has more English speakers than the United States.

Samuel L. Jackson personally requested a purple lightsaber in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

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Fun & games

Want to be hi five’s artist of the week?

Send your drawing with your name and age to: hifive@tribune. com.pk

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Help the pirate find his treasure

SOURCE: THINKMAZE.COM

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