Flight: Fly like an eagle

Bo was lying back in the grass enjoying the warmth of the sunshine after a long cold winter, daydreaming about catching supper when his attention was caught by a lone eagle floating around on invisible currents of air.

“Aah!” he thought in envy. “If only I could fly around like that I would know exactly where to hunt supper instead of having to spend hours and hours tracking something edible across the endless plains while having to keep looking over my shoulder for something like a sabre-toothed tiger tracking me!”

Sucking the last bit of marrow out off a chunk of hairy mammoth bone, Bo concentrated on the eagle a little longer and then, with a wild shout, heaved himself up, brushed his matted hair away from his eyes, squinted into the distance then took off running as fast as his hairy legs would go — flapping his long arms up and down in the hope that he would, if he tried hard enough, be able to fly like the eagle! And, just for a moment, he thought he’d done it as suddenly there was air, not ground, beneath his feet which is when he realised that he’d run straight off a short, sharp, drop!

Luckily for Bo, he landed without hurting anything other than his pride, as two other hunters witnessed his incredible performance and would, no doubt, rush straight back to tell everyone else in his little tribe what they had seen. Not to be put off, Bo next tried fastening feathers all over his animal hide clothes and even in his hair and beard, doing this miles away from their shared cave so that no one would see, of course, as he didn’t want everyone laughing at him again.

He’d forgotten about the eagle though; it watched this strange human creature flapping around in frenzy on the ground and then, to its utter astonishment, watched it jump off a really high cliff, flap its feather covered arms two or three times and then fall, straight down on to the rocks with a horrifying splat!

‘A convenient dinner,’ thought the eagle hoping that humans would continue this new sport thus saving him hunting time in the process.This sad event took place thousands and thousands of years ago when human beings were learning how to make the best of life in the world as they knew it and Bo really was ahead of the times when it came to dreaming up inventions. Bo and his tribe inhabited what later became Eastern Europe and, over the next few thousand years, they slowly but surely migrated eastwards until, in around 400BC — one of Bo’s descendants — a young man called Bi, glued together some pieces of paper, fastened them to a wooden frame, tied a piece of string to the contraption and thus invented what is still known as a kite.

Bi, by the way, lived in ancient China where colourful kites of all descriptions soon became part and parcel of the scene although, much to Bi’s disappointment, he didn’t manage to make one strong enough to carry a man up into the air which, like Bo, is what he had hoped to achieve.

Other descendants of Bo, scattered all over the world by now, repeatedly made wings out of feathers, wood and cloth and other odd items in their countless attempts to fly like the eagle. But as human arm muscles are much weaker than bird wing muscles, none of them manage more than a hop or a skip and many of them, sadly to say, emulating Bo by going splat!

Mankind’s fascination with flight didn’t diminish in the slightest and, if anything, grew stronger than ever, eventually driving a relatively modern day descendant of Bo, an Italian genius called Leonardo da Vinci — another guy way ahead of his time just like Bo — to sit down and design, amongst other things, the ‘Ornithopter’ back in the year of 1485. This amazing flying machine, on which today’s helicopters are based, didn’t actually get off the drawing board but the intention was obviously there and, if Leonardo da Vinci had really got his act together and successfully built and flown the Ornithopter at that time, history would have been very different indeed!

Three hundred years down the line, in 1783, something did finally get in the air: two French brothers, Joseph Michel and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier, direct descendants of Bi’s grandmother’s sister’s brother’s first cousin twice removed known, for the record, as Ba. They invented the very first hot air balloon made from Chinese silk with a passenger basket slung underneath. On its maiden flight it rose to 6,000ft in the air and flew for approximately one mile with its live passengers, a sheep, a rooster and a duck, wondering what on earth was going on!

Having proven that their idea worked, the brothers soon began flying people around which really encouraged yet another distant descendant of Bo who, like the brothers, was quite unaware of his bloodline, to go one better. George Cayley this man was called, designed a number of gliders between 1799 and the 1850s and a little boy, name unknown but definitely one of the tribe, had the dubious pleasure of being the very first person to actually ‘glide’.

The first long distance glider capable of carrying a human passenger was designed and flown by a German engineer, relationship to Bo not known, called Otto Lilienthal in 1891. And he personally flew over 2500 times before being killed in an aviation accident. He did, however, write a major book on aerodynamics, published in 1889 and on which the Wright Brothers based their own designs.

The Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, American descendants of Bo, are credited with being the very first people to actually fly. Beginning with one of Bi’s kites, they studied every conceivable theory of flight, including the need for an engine to keep them in the air, eventually coming up with ‘The Flyer’, an aeroplane which lifted off from flat ground to the north of a place called Big Kill Devil Hill, a name Bo would have appreciated, at 10: 35am December 17th, 1903, with Orville at the controls.

Since that time, countless varieties of flying machines have taken to the air, transporting people and goods all over the world and even, once rockets arrived on the scene, taking man to the moon and beyond. Bo would really have been delighted by the following which is all he really wanted. There are a wide variety of hang-gliders and propulsion backpacks which enable just a single person to soar like an eagle and even to hunt down supper if that is their intent!

Story time: Deep water

There once was a river as wide as an ocean and my petrifying adventure began there. They called it the Ghostly River and spoke of its mysterious nature and mothers scared the children to sleep just by mentioning its name.

I felt scared and provoked, so I decided to find out for myself what happened to everyone who went there. One day I went there and stealthily I crept nearer and nearer until a great tidal wave of what seemed like ice, swept over me. I felt nothing but cold. There was a horribly painful drowning sensation before everything went black.

I woke up in darkness and lay on an immensely uncomfortable surface that felt like a bed of nails. I just managed to sit up in tons of slimy, slippery seaweed. I don’t know how far I swam, but it felt like miles. Suddenly I realised that I needed to get out and fast.

I swam up with all the strength I could gather, sliced through the water and suck in a breath of fresh air. I was drained and exhausted by then. The bitter cold water had started to pierce my skin and chill my bones. I started sinking deeper and deeper.

And then appeared a light and soft hand that clutched mine. I was frozen but the warm embrace was bringing me to life. I could taste the feint familiar scent and it roused me from the deep slumber….

It was a cold morning and my quilt had slipped on the floor. I was shivering in cold when my mother arrived to wake me up for school. Her smile was brilliant like the morning sun and reassuring as always.

BIOGRAPHY OF A SOFT BOARD

A www… Stop it! Give me a break! Umm… sorry, I was just shouting at the kids who torture me by poking me everyday with pins! If I were a human, I would have died the very moment, but no such luck! Yeah, yeah, you guessed right. I am actually a poor old soft board.
My life wasn’t as hard as it is now. I used to be very happy with my family. Once I was enjoying a good laugh with my sister… Oh! How I miss her…. She was so lovely…. Well! that laughter stopped abruptly as a bunch of mean guys (hunters) approached and sliced me. The last thing I heard was my sister yelling at them, scornfully. Then gloomy and murky darkness surrounded me…
I don’t know how I survived while passing through the machines which sliced, banged and crashed me as if I was their arched enemy. The second thing I remember is that I was in this vacant school, delivered by a rusty van.I wonder if this school is the same one to which my cousin was also brought to become a blackboard! But I can’t see him anywhere because I am pinned with nails and I can’t even budge! And everyday kids come early in the morning and start poking me. They don’t understand that it hurts… even the big old lady, which leads them! She is so tender and loving with the kids but she doesn’t know I am alive. I am homesick! I want to go back to my mom. I miss her a lot.
I know, I am old enough but I also have feelings…. The pins hurt! These humans say “Kindness is everything,” but they pin this slogan on me! I will die soon.
The last thing I want to say before every piece of foam in me is empty… Care for everyone and everything, even if it’s not a living being.
Oh! Here they come again… ouch!

Interesting aviation facts

• Most planes flying internationally have their home country’s flag painted on or around their tails. Generally, the flag is facing the proper way round on the left (port) side of the aircraft and backward on the starboard side. Why? Because that’s how it would look if a real flag were hoisted on a pole above the airplane during the flight.

• Airline doors and windows are often inset a few millimetres from the fuselage so that they’ll expand to be flush with the fuselage during flight.

• If you look closely at the top of jet airliners wings, you’ll probably find a row of small metal tabs standing about one inch (2.5cm) tall, especially in front of the ailerons. These are vortex generators, which actually help the air follow the shape of the wing during flight by creating tiny whirlwinds over the wing. You can sometimes find vortex generators on the tail and in front of the rudder, too.

• Each engine on a Boeing 747 weighs almost 9,500 pounds (4,300 kg), costs about $8 million, and burns about 12 gallons of fuel per minute when cruising. Altogether the four engines account for about five per cent of the total weight of a full 747 upon takeoff.

• Even if you strapped on giant wings, you could never fly because the human heart can’t pump blood quick enough to satisfy the enormous strain of flapping. When flying, a sparrow’s heart pumps more than 450 times each minute!

• The windows in an airport control tower must be tilted out at exactly 15 degrees from the vertical to minimise reflections from both inside and outside the control tower.

• Cathay Pacific aircraft are equipped with toasters, cappuccino makers, rice cookers and skillets.

• A KLM 747-400 flight from Amsterdam to Australia carries an average of just over 1,000 kilogrammes of food, and some 1,324 litres of beverages.

• American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by removing one olive from each salad served in first class.

• Virgin Atlantic says catering is its third biggest cost after fuel and engineering-maintenance.

• KLM is the world’s oldest airline established in 1919.

A unique safari through Gilgit-Baltistan

ISLAMABAD: Tourists can now see snow leopards in their natural habitat on the sky-high mountainous terrains of Gilgit-Baltistan. An adventure safari provides an opportunity for tourists to visit the mighty mountains in the country’s extreme north and capture fantastic scenes where these wild animals, also known as “big cats” by the locals, are found playing, hunting and relaxing.

This ambitious plan, carved out by Himalayan Holidays, an Islamabad-based tour operator, will help explore snow leopards, which are found in the dense forests at an altitude of 1,200 to 2,000 metres (3900 to 6600 feet).

“By organising this event we can entertain the visitors with not just wildlife, but also include tours of the serene valleys where tourists can witness diverse cultures, snow-clad mountainous peaks and gushing streams and rivers,” said Najib Ahmed Khan, owner of Himalayan Holidays.

Khan is determined that the spectacular event, besides attracting visitors from around the country, would help enthrall the tourists from across the world, boosting Pakistan’s tourism industry.

“It is a unique move towards tapping into the country’s endangered wildlife species and using our fascinating flora and fauna to promote tourism,” Najib said.

He, however, said focus would be on snow leopards as the wildlife sector had so far not figured in country’s tourism activities.

The tour will take wildlife lovers from Islamabad to Gilgit, where the journey begins by a road trek to Ramghat via Partabpul and Bunji. A bar-b-que dinner at sunset on the Nanga Parbat will conclude day one.

Day two starts with a hike to Neelidar, going as high as about 600 metres in five hours to discover the big cats, roaming freely in their habitats.

Third day’s hiking leads to Akalotamo where the local guides brief the visitors about places for filming of fantastic scenes of big cats. On day four, the group will be taken to the enchanting destination of Misikhandgah.

An individual snow leopard lives within a well-defined home range, but does not defend its territory aggressively when encroached upon by other big cats.

Like other cats, snow leopards use scent marks, scent to indicate their territory and common travel routes. Being most active at dawn and dusk they are known for their extreme secretive and well camouflaged nature.

The diet of the snow leopard also varies across its range and with the time of year, depending on prey availability. In the western Himalayas it preys mostly Himalayan blue sheep, Markhor, ibex and smaller prey consists of marmots, woolly hares and birds such as the snow cock and chukar. However, it is not averse to taking domestic livestock which brings it into direct conflict with humans.

Snow leopards have not been reported to attack humans, and appear to be among the least aggressive of all the big cats.

As a result, they are easily driven away from livestock, they readily abandon their kills when threatened and may not even defend themselves when attacked.

Snow leopards prefer to ambush prey from above, using broken terrain to conceal their approach, and can leap as far as 14 metres. They actively pursue prey down steep mountainsides, using the momentum of their initial leap to chase animals for up to 300 meters.

Estimated population of snow leopards in Pakistan is 420 to 500 with their habitat stretching over 80,000 square miles in Skardu, Astore Bunji (Nanga Parbat region), Khunjran Borogil and Chitral.

Tricky trivia

Questions:

1. Where are Panama hats made?
2. How many years did the “Hundred Years War” last?
3. What colour is the ‘black box’ in jet airplanes?
4. What was the first name of King George the sixth?
5. Which animal do we get catgut from?
6. When do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
7. What is used for the bristles of a ‘camel’s hair brush?’
8. What animal is thought to be the source of the name ‘Canary Islands?’
9. What colour are purple finches?

Answers

1. Ecuador — Panama hats have always been made in Ecuador, from the leaves of the panama-hat palm. The origin of the name is uncertain, but made popular when Teddy Roosevelt wore it while visiting Panama Canal.

2. 116 years — it was a conflict between England and France, from 1337 to 1453.

3. Orange — the term ‘black box’ means a device that is viewed primarily in terms of its input and output characteristics (you can’t see inside it). It is orange in colour to make it easier to find after a crash.

4. Albert — (Albert Frederick Arthur George), he was king of the United Kingdom (1936- 1952), the last Emperor of India until 1947, and the last King of Ireland until 1949.

5. Horses and sheep — a tough cord used for musical strings, surgical stitching and more, it has never been made from cats. The intestines of horses, sheep, goats, mules, pigs and donkeys have been used.

6. November — it refers to the events of late October 1917, but the anniversary of the October Revolution is November 7, and was an official holiday in the Soviet Union. This is due to the different calendars used at the time. The Julian calendar was still used in Russia but western countries used the Gregorian calendar, which was later adopted by the Soviet Union.

7. Squirrel hair — the hair of goats, ponies, bears and sheep are also used, alone or in combinations. Hair from camels is considered too woolly for brushes and is never used.

8. Dog — Insula Canaria, a Latin name meaning Island of the Dogs, was applied originally to the island of Gran Canaria. Apparently, there were wild dogs that populated many of the islands when they were first visited by ancient Romans.

9. Red and brown — males (adult) are normally red on the head, breast and back. Females are light brown above, white below and with dark brown streaks throughout.

If you got even three of these tricky trivia questions right, you are doing better than most. If you got seven or more correct, consider yourself a trivia genius.

Word buzz: Easy-to-use idioms

Etched in stone: Things, particularly rules, which cannot be changed under any circumstances.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day: Used to refer to people becoming lucky by chance.

Even keel: When something is on an even keel, it is balanced.

Every dog has its day: Everyone gets their moment of glory and success.

Every man for himself: When people try to take care of themselves in a difficult situation but they don’t help others.

Every man has his price: Everyone’s support can be bought at a certain price or if one is ready to pay them enough.

Every trick in the book: In all possible ways, even dishonest ones.

Everything but the kitchen sink: It means everything is included, even if not all of it is useful.

Exception that proves the rule: An exception in some way confirms a rule.

Explore all avenues: To try all possible ways to get the desired result.

Eye candy: An attractive person.

Eyewash: Actions or remarks intended to conceal the facts of a situation.

Eye-opener: Surprising and unexpected event that brings out the truth about something or someone.

Face like thunder: To be very angry and upset.

Face only a mother could love: To be ugly.

Face the music: To accept and face the unpleasant consequence or result of something.

Face value: The appearance of something/someone, and when one takes something at face value, it means it is being accepted for what it appears to be rather than its inner characteristics.

Face your demons: To face and accept one’s fears or things that one has been trying hard to avoid.

Failure is the mother of success: It is only after a failure that we strive towards success.

Fair and square: To win this way is to win by following the rules properly and winning conclusively.

Fair weather friend: Friends who are only around in good times.

Fall by the wayside: To remain incomplete.

Fall from grace: To be disgraced or to lose favour with someone.

Fall on your sword: To resign and accept the consequences of some wrongdoing. In olden days when warriors lost in a battle, they preferred to kill themselves by their own swords rather than be captured by the enemy.

Familiarity breeds contempt: On getting to know someone or something too well, you also get to know their faults and start disliking them.

Far cry from: A thing that is very different from something, e.g. “The game he played today was a far cry from his best performance.”

REAL COOL SIGNS...............lolz

Not a Smart Decision by This School

Probably not the smartest performer to have at a Middle School Event. Imagine the hormones goin through those students! I would hate the be the teacher that has them next hour!

The kids even have their cameras out and I-Phones. Hilarious! Wonder if someone got fired over that one!

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Managing dyke repairs before Kharif season

THE cash-strapped Sindh government has not been able to fully restore damaged irrigation network despite passage of almost six months since the devastating floods hit the province last year.

Irrigation experts are worried that if the damaged river embankments are not rehabilitated and breaches plugged before the coming monsoon season in June, the problem may worsen.

The federal government has agreed to release Rs2.5 billion on an urgent basis.

A senior official in the provincial irrigation department, meanwhile, told this scribe that the Sindh government had released a sum of Rs2 billion from its own resources to re-start the rehabilitation work. The work would gear up once the promised funds start flowing in from the federal government.

The provincial irrigation secretary Rafique Memon said that he had already told the meeting of the Federal Ministry for Inter-provincial Coordination held in Islamabad few weeks back that Sindh urgently needed Rs8 billion for repairing river dykes.

He warned of far-reaching implications on the province’s agricultural economy, if the required funds were not released before mid-February.

Irrigation officials said the Sindh government was now waiting for immediate release of Rs5 billion for rehabilitation of dykes and canals to their original shape for its Kharif sowing.

If the provincial government will not manage the daunting task of rehabilitation in a short span of three months, the Kharif sowing that starts from April 15, will suffer.

“The Sindh government is very much aware of the dangers the broken river dykes and breaches pose to the provincial economy, but it is handicapped by the financial constraints,” said a senior official in the department.

After approval of the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP), the provincial government had submitted 76 schemes worth Rs16 billion to the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) for its approval. But, only Rs14 billion were approved in the CDWP meeting held on January 22 for implementation of 64 schemes of urgent nature.

After the modus operandi for the release of the funds was being considered by the ECNEC, the federal government announced on February 2 to give Rs5 billion for priority projects .

Officials in the provincial irrigation department said that undue delay in the release of the approved amount of Rs5 billion was further delaying the rehabilitation work.

Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo said Tori Bund and Kot Almo breaches were not plugged with conventional irrigation department methods. These were plugged initially on emergency basis by stone-dumping to halt floodwater flow from there.

He also said that these breaches were still open and efforts were yet to be made to plug them properly. But it was not possible until the centre released the approved funds.

According to reports quoting official sources, around 1,946 breaches out of a total of 2,515 that occurred in different waterways, had been plugged at a cost of Rs1 billion.

Irrigation expert Idris Rajput said that floodwater enters Sindh in June. Therefore, rehabilitation of dykes and plugging of breaches should be completed before it, or else, the province would face yet another devastation.

The provincial chief minister has issued orders to the irrigation department to immediately kick off the strengthening of all damaged embankments and plugging of breaches by May this year. For, which he has released Rs2 billion from province’s own resources.

Irrigation experts doubt whether the hefty amount of Rs5 billion, released in installments by the centre to the provincial government, would be utilised efficiently and in a transparent manner.

“There is also a deep suspicion in the federal government about the Sindh government’s inability to efficiently utilise Rs5 billion before May this year for the quality rehabilitation work,” said Fazullah Qureshi, a former federal secretary planning and development.

Conceding to such doubts, he said that spending such a huge amount in a span of just three months was really a great challenge for the irrigation department in view of lack of capacity and efficiency.

He suggested: “If the government wants to restore the irrigation network in such a short span of time with transparent utilisation of funds following release of more funds by the federation, then it should first start plugging all breaches immediately and simultaneously, launch dykes repairing and strengthening work on them.”

He said that the government’s top priority should be quality work on the damaged irrigation network, with focus on monitoring of the rehabilitation work. Otherwise, the next possible flood would sweep away the irrigation system again and cause more massive damages than it caused last year.

WRONG PLACEMENT OF PRICE TAGS

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Riddles: What am I?

No legs have I to dance,
No lungs have I to breathe,
No life have I to live or die
And yet I do all three.
What am I?
Answer:
I am a fire.

*******
I have three letters, and I read the same forward and backwards. I rhyme with a word that is important to everyone. What word am I?
Answer:
Eye (rhymes with ‘I’.)

*******
With pointed fangs it sits in wait,
With piercing force its doles out fate,
Over bloodless victims proclaiming its might,
Eternally joining in a single bite.
What am I?
Answer:
A stapler

*******
A box without hinges, key, or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.
What is it?
Answer:
An egg

*******
I walk on,
Four legs in the beginning,
Two legs in the middle,
Three legs in the end.
What am I?
Answer:
Man — four legs as a baby, two legs as an adult, three legs as an elderly with a cane.

Drinking tea harms health?

THIS is with reference to a TV commercial urging children to drink tea. The advertisement hints that tea is good for health and young children. I would like to draw readers’ attention to potential drawbacks and effects of tea on our health.

All tea leaves contain fluoride; however, mature leaves contain as much as 10 to 20 times the fluoride levels of young leaves from the same plant. High fluoride intake (daily intakes over 2mg for children, 4mg adults) increases the risk of osteoporosis and fractures.

Also caffeine is an addictive drug and overuse of tea may result in harmful side effects, such as an increased likelihood of certain sleep disorders. Moreover, tea contains oxalate, over consumption of which can cause kidney stones, as well as binding with free calcium in the body; other minerals may be bound as well. It has been suggested that chemicals known as tannins may increase one’s risk of esophageal cancer, with some studies having found that tea drinking may in fact be negatively associated with risk of oesophageal cancer.

Also, hot tea consumption has been linked to a higher risk for oesophageal cancer. There is a potential effect of milk on tea as well. A study at the Charité Hospital of the Berlin University showed that adding milk to tea will block the normal, healthful effects that tea has in protecting against cardiovascular disease. This occurs because casein from the milk binds to the molecules in tea that cause the arteries to relax, especially EGCG.