Table of contents for Issue 310 - June 2021 in MiniMag

He is back … and you are invited to spend some time with Detective Nkomba! We are calling all budding journalists, tv broadcasters, radio presenters and talk show hosts – this is your chance to interview Detective Nkomba and uncover the man behind all the mysteries. Show us the end result of your in-depth interview in a written piece of no longer than three pages. Use the following as a guide: 1. Set the scene: are you a talk show host, a tv journalist or an investigating journalist? 2. Introduce yourself and your guest to your audience; 3. Show us through an intensive question and answering session how you uncover the truths, the unknown and the interesting facts about Detective Nkomba; 4. Summarise and conclude your interview. REMEMBER: • Use…

8 June 2021 World Oceans Day By working together, we can – and will – protect and restore our shared ocean. Think about what actions you can take to protect the ocean. Plastic is choking our oceans, so you can help by not littering, as well as cleaning up pollution from the coasts. You can also ask Mom to only buy seafood that is sustainably fished. By joining together we can ensure that our oceans stay healthy and keep the billions of humans, plants and animals that depend on it every day safe. Get together with your family, community and your school, and join with millions of others around our blue planet to start creating a better future. Working together, we can and will protect our oceans! The Marine Stewardship Council…

The Earth’s satellite, the Moon, is about four times smaller, and orbits (or travels around another object in a single path) about 384 400 km from the Earth. A whole lot of movement is involved: • The Moon spins (or rotates) on its axis • The Earth spins on its axis; • The Moon revolves (or orbits) around the Earth; • The Earth and Moon revolve around the Sun. Since the Moon revolves around its own axis at the same rate at which it orbits the Earth, we always see one side of the Moon, called the near-side. Man-made satellites When we talk about satellites, we normally refer to manmade spacecraft placed in space for a specific reason. They are very useful for communicating information to the Earth. Satellites have…

What are quasars? Faint, peculiar stars that showed up in their pictures had astronomers really puzzled back in 1963. Maarten Schmidt at the Mount Palomar Observatory in California, USA then realised that these star-like (“quasi” stellar) objects, were not stars at all, but unusual galaxies lying at very great distances. A galaxy is a giant collection of gas, dust and millions or billions of stars. Schmidt also discovered that quasars were the source of powerful radio signals being picked up by radio telescopes. A quasar’s strong radio signal, he discovered, is produced by a jet of very hot gas that is blasted out from around a massive black hole in the heart of the galaxy. A black hole is an invisible object in space with such a strong pull of…

The first private postboxes were installed in 1881. In 1897, the post office started to deliver letters within a 5 km radius from the post office. In this way, the crowding at the post office was reduced. In 1931, the Post Office determined that residential postboxes had to be at street level. This led to a very interesting correspondence between a member of the public and the Post Office. This correspondence continued from 1931 to 1940. One gentleman absolutely refused to erect a postbox with his street number at his home. According to him, it was the duty of the postman to deliver postal articles at the door as before. For nine years, the aggrieved gentleman used literally all channels to state his case. For example, he corresponded with the…

To keep our planet and everyone who lives on it safe and healthy, we must take care of our oceans the way they take care of us! On Oceans Day, which takes place 8 June, we are reminded to celebrate and honour the oceans that connect us all. By working together, we can – and will – protect and restore our shared oceans. This year’s Ocean Day theme is Life & Livelihoods! The Helderberg Ocean Awareness Movement was invited by Soap4Safety Together against Covid19 and the Darcey Sunshine Foundation, who run an out of centre volunteer street school, to take part in this great educational campaign. Innovation and recycled materials and toys are used to educate the children. The ocean is in need of our support! With 90% of big…

The sea level rises and falls with the tides, making the shore sometimes wet and sometimes dry. Winds drive unfettered across the open ocean and hit the coast with great force. As they blow, they whip up waves that endlessly crash into the land. No two stretches of shore are the same. Each is shaped by many variable factors – the tides, winds, waves, water currents, temperature and climate, and the types of rock from which the land is made. Along each shore a group of highly adapted plants and animals – many of them strange to our land-orientated eyes – make their homes. Shaping the shoreline For millions of years, every few seconds of every day, waves have hit the seashore. Generated and driven by wind, in calm weather…

MUST WATCH! BRAND-NEW EPISODES TEEN TITANS GO! OF LESSONS AND BUCKET LISTS… Teen Titans Go! are back in all brand-new comedic adventures on Cartoon Network this June, where superhero roommates Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy save the day … again! Of course, patience is a virtue – one that Beast Boy and Raven’s demon side could use when they celebrate their birthday together. But they are lucky to have a teammate like Robin, who is enthusiastic about teaching them a few lessons in patience. The Titans also compete against the DC Superhero Girls to determine who is the best team in the universe, and Raven magically turns the Titans into a sitcom family. With many lessons in store, the craziness is not far behind as the Titans remind…