Tête-à-tête

Hello everyone,
Ah, I finally smell winter. The crisp, mothball scent of sweaters, the 'green' tang of misty mornings, with the smoky fragrance of burning leaves all rolled into one. Looks like my favourite season's finally here. It's getting harder and harder to crawl out from under the blankets every morning.

Last week, I spoke about the RS Awards. Let me tell you how it works.

These are the categories:
a) Best Page (Nominees: Cover, Switchboard, The Beat, Centre, Scribbles, Backpack)
b) Best Column (Shout, Tête-à-tête, BD Bytes, Study Buddies, Sites Unseen, Game Review, Movie Review, Anime Review)
c) Best Columnist (Pick from the respective authors of the above-mentioned columns)
d) Best Writer: (AES, Ayesha Mahmud, Durdana Ghias, Hitch-hiker, Jennifer Ashraf, Lancer, Maherin Ahmed, Maliha Bassam, Marwa Nur, Niloy, Nusrat, Rohini Alamgir, Sabrina F Ahmad, Shayera Moula, Tahiat-e-Mahboob, and Tawsif Saleheen)

You can also write in and tell us what your favourite pieces were, which issue you liked best, what you like/dislike about the RS, what you miss, who you miss, and what you'd like to see in the RS in the near future. No slang please… give us your honest opinion. You can also point out our biggest bloopers this year; we've got a separate section allocated for that. Entries should not exceed 100 words.

Mail in your votes to theconnection123@hotmail.com, the official mailto address for the awards. The fate of the RS is now in your hands.

Well, that's all from my side. Take care, and see you next week!
Send your polls, opinions, and queries to thegirlnextdoor1@hotmail.com or teteatete_tgnd@yahoo.com

By The Girl Next Door

Tie dying clothes

Tie-dying is a very simple process and is also a lot of fun to do. All you need is a piece of fabric, dye, and fasteners.

Before you begin, choose a good location for the process. You will want to choose an area that's easy to clean up because tie-dyeing can get messy. The easiest material for tie-dyeing is 100%, or at least 80% cotton; synthetic materials may not retain the dye evenly, but its worth trying. What dye you should use actually depends upon the fabric, but since cotton materials are recommended for the beginner, choose a fibre-reactive dye. Squeeze bottles are helpful for application. For the ties, you can use a number of things such as rubber bands, string, nylon cable ties, or anything that will hold firmly in place. Newspapers or other covering materials are useful for protecting the surface where you apply the dye and lay the finished fabric to dry.

First, wash the material to remove any chemicals that may be in the fabric; if this step is skipped, the dye may not penetrate well. Dry the material completely before dyeing. When the fabric is dry, you can begin tying it. There are several standard patterns used for tie-dye, including:

1. Spiral: Determine where you want the centre of your spiral, and hold the fabric in that spot. Twist the fabric into a point, adding ties along the length of the cone.

2. V Pattern: Fold the fabric in half and starting at one corner, fold the fabric in even segments back and forth accordion style. Add fasteners as you go.

3. Concentric circles: Same as the spiral, but do not twist the fabric.

4. Stripes: Roll the fabric into a tube, and fasten ties along the length.

Any number of other patterns can be created; use your imagination. You could try sewing the fabric with a loose basting stitch and pulling the thread tight. Fold the garment into different shapes before tying. Be creative: the most interesting results come from using many fasteners and keeping relatively consistent.

Now that the material is all scrunched up and tied, the next step is to add the dye. Be sure to use enough dye to fully saturate the material, including inside the folds, unless you intend to leave white space. Choose colours that work well together, according to the colour wheel. Opposite colours on the wheel (red-green, blue-yellow, orange-purple, etc.) will tend to look muddy where the two colours meet.

When finished with the dyeing process, allow the fabric to dry completely before removing the fasteners. This can take quite some time. Allow at least four hours if the material will be dried in the sun on a hot day, but it will often be necessary to let the fabric bundle dry overnight. Do not attempt to dry it in your dryer! When it's totally dry, remove the ties and admire your artwork.

By Nusrat

Hey People!!
Wish all our readers and everyone else Eid Mubarak from the column! Hope everyone had a great time, and got to meet their family and friends. Well, seems as if we need extra space for our column, especially since the amount of messages we have been getting have been slowing rising, and I do believe that it has reached its peak at the moment. Anyway, keep wishing your loved ones, because it only helps to bring you closer!! Write to us, and enjoy the column!!

Hey!
I want some new friends. If any one there wants to be my friend, please mail me at nil_akash1981@yahoo.co.uk
To all of my homies and boos in BD,

Happy Eid! Special shout out to Shamzy, ReZ, Sherm, Raisan, Mistik, Ilyia, Ali, all of the ADK crew, Blok, my pops, Shanta, every emcee I ever battled with. Miss you all a lot!
The proud BDMC
Jay-C

Hey Ashraf,
Happy Birthday!
Shareen

Hi Friends,
Hope you all had a great holiday and hope you (cl8, secG) all enjoy your Eid. See you all when school opens up.
From Aiman

a.k.a Bubble
Anyone who is, was or will be related to Manarat School, College or University is encouraged to join our group/forum at: www.manarat.cjb.net. For additional info contact
manarat@gmail.com.

[ATTENTION:
This column is NOT responsible for any negative (or otherwise) outcome of the messages printed in it. Please do not abuse the column by using it to play pranks etc. Also, all email addresses will be printed at the reader's expense and we do NOT take responsibility any inconvenience to anybody.]

By Crucified

Rising Soap

Episode #3 PLAN-demonium
Our cast for the week:
The Girl Next Door (TGND), Niloy, AES, Maliha, Tawsif, Tashmia Shayera, Durdana, Hitch-hiker
Special Appearance: DBB (RS Editor), and Mood Dude

Thursday evening. The planning of a new issue is underway, and as usual, things are NOT going well at the RS HQ's. We take you behind the frosted glass doorways into the library where the team is convened. Remember the battle scenes in the movie Troy? All the shouting and screaming and general mayhem? Let that be the theme of the mood in here. At one end of the table, TGND is playing scribe, furiously jotting down assignments. At the other, Mood Dood is resting his chin on the table, hands clamped tightly over his ears, a look of abject terror on his face.

Everyone speaks at the top of his or her lungs. Ideas, copies, pens, and other random stuff are suddenly airborne, as each person tries to get everyone else's attention.

Mood Dude (shouting): "Is it always like this on Thursdays?"
TGND (shouting back): "Worse. Crucified isn't here. No bloodshed!"
Tawsif: (shouting): "And no smelly tuna fish!"
MD: "Wha?"
Shayera: "Ooh…you haven't heard about that one?"
Others: "Never mind!"
[Enter DBB]
Silence falls. Everyone's sitting bolt upright.

DBB (smiling): "Good evening, brats. Have you been working hard?" (Everyone nods furiously) "Good. TGND, show me the assignments for next week."
*Silence*

TGND (smiling nervously): "Well?"
DBB: "Bah! I don't like it. Scratch out that cover story idea. Hitch-hiker!"
HH : "Yes sir…err…ma'am…err…"
DBB: "I want to see more work from you. Mood Dude! Kindly remind me why I'm paying you?"
MD (grinning cheekily): "Err…because I'm the most hard-working person you've ever seen?"
*Everyone covers ears*

Now picture an atomic bomb blowing up and a mushroom cloud going up. That's right. You get the picture.

DBB (yawning): "Okay, TGND…you take it from here. I'm off. I'll see you during layout time!"
[Exit]
AES: "Can…we…breathe…now?"
Durdana (peering over the frosted glass section): "I think she's gone."
TGND: "NOW we can start planning for real."
(Mexican Wave ripples down the ranks)
Maliha: "I hate to imagine what DBB's reaction will be when she sees the final product."
Shayera: "Oh, I have a very good idea…"
Tawsif: "Don't go there…we have innocent kids here"
Niloy: "You talking about me?"
Tawsif: "No…I was talking about Tashmia"
Tashmia: (pouting) "TGND…that mean Tawsif called me a kid!"
Mood Dude: "TGND, I hope we know what we're doing."
TGND: "Me too."

So what happens when DBB finds out what the RS team has planned for the Dec 2 issue? Find out next week when Rising Soap returns…

By Sabrina F Ahmad

Cracks and Cornies

Q. What loses its head in the morning and gets it back at night?
A. A pillow!
Q. Why is a baby like an old car?
A. Because it never goes anywhere without a rattle.
Q. Why did the girl eat bullets?
A. So that her hair would come out in bangs!
Q. Why are people living on the opposite side of the road from a cemetery not allowed to be buried in that cemetery?
A. Because they are still living.
Q. Why did the boy tell everyone his grades were under water?
A. Because they were below "C" level.
Q. Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?
A. Because it didn't have the GUTS to!
Q. Why did the doughnut shop close?
A. Because its owner got tired of the HOLE business!
Q. When is a door not a door?
A. When its AJAR!
Q. When does a car look like a frog?
A. When its being TOAD!

By Crucified

Hebesphenomegacorona

3D solids made of squares and triangles and pentagons continue to fascinate scientists and explorers. Like: a hebesphenomegacorona.

This solid has 21 faces, three squares and 18 triangles. It is one of the three-dimensional shapes called "Johnson solids" you can make by mixing different kinds of regular polygons.

In 1969, mathematician Viktor Zalgaller proved there were only 92 Johnson solids, and he gave each one a fanciful name: e.g., square dipyramid, pentagonal orthocupolarontunda, gyrobifastigium, snub disphenoid, and hebesphenomegacorona.

Trying to use these words in everyday conversation is quite tricky, but it could be kinda fun. You can even use it as jargon on friends who will think of it as quite sordid.

Then again, more serenely, you can try to fix some figures together (about at least 15) and see if they make a Johnson Solid. It's at least a wacky way to buy off a couple of hot summer hours.

By Farzana Yasmeem