Welcome to the JUNE 2004 edition of
Tricky Bounty
Hunters
Real-life bounty hunters
need to be tough enough to bring in a criminal, even when the criminal is
bigger and stronger than they are. They also need to do it as nicely as
possible, because the people they meet while "bringing them in" can
become helpful "snitches" for other cases later
on. So real life bounty hunters have a bag full of tricks up their
sleeves to trick bad guys into coming along nicely. Here's some of my
favourites:
Criminals on the run from police are always in need of cash, so bounty hunters sometimes arrange for them to hear about a job offer for casual work paid in cash, like packing at a warehouse, truck driving for a day, taxi-driver or manual labour with a builder. They're often told where to go, what to bring (eg overalls, lunch, cold drink) and then the criminal comes to them. HAHAHAHA!
Another trick is to follow them until they can be cornered in an elevator, shopping centre, or bank where security guards are available within seconds to help if the bad guy tries to put up a fight. (Catching them at home is often much harder if they have family or friends around to gang up on the bounty hunter!)
Bounty hunters often travel in pairs so they can back each other up. So another good trick is to drop partner 2 off around the block from the bad guy's hide-out so he can climb the back fence and wait at the back door while partner 1 drives in the front gate in a car that looks like an unmarked police car with a police-looking uniform behind the wheel. Doesn't even have to be a proper uniform. Often a blue short-sleeve shirt is all it takes to scare them out the back door - and into the waiting handcuffs of their partner. HAHAHAHAHA!
Club
Editorial
Wow, another month has shot past us again! (Big waves and hellos to all our new club members!) Some new columns this month with Dirt Demons for Motocross fans and Horsing Around for the pony clubbers.
By popular demand, there's an extra column of jokes this month! YAY!!!
And our extra special celebrity guest author is Moya Simons, famous for the fabulous Dead Meat series and Totally Weird series! (to name only a few!)
New members can catch up on our other celebrity guests by clicking here to check out our last newsletters from the club library.
And don't forget to tell all your friends and teachers about the new website at
There's heaps of prizes to be won!
HAVE
FUN!!!!
xx
Kirby.
Club Riddles
Q: Why did the teacher marry
the janitor?
A: Because he swept her off her feet!
Q: Why were the teacher's
eyes crossed?
A: She couldn't control her pupils!
Q: Why did the teacher write
the lesson on the windows?
A: He wanted the lesson to be very
clear!
Q: What is the Great
Depression?
A: When you get a bad report card.
Q: Why don't you see
giraffes in primary school?
A: Because they're all in HIGH
School!
Q: Who should be your best friend
at school?
A: Your
princi-pal!
Q: What school do you greet people in?
A: Hi School !
Q:
Why did Scotty take a ruler to bed?
A: Because he wanted to see how
long he slept!
CLUB JOKES
Knock Knock
Who's there
!
Ears
!
Ears who ?
Ears some more knock
knock jokes for you !
Knock Knock
Who's there
!
Eddie
!
Eddie who ?
Eddie body home
!
Knock Knock
Who's there
!
Eliza
!
Eliza who ?
Eliza wake at night
thinking about answering this door !
Knock Knock
Who's there
!
Ellie
!
Ellie who ?
Ellie Phants are
coming! Shut the
door!
Bad
Jokes
of the month:
|
TEACHER :
What is an island ? | |
|
TEACHER
:Give me
three reasons why the world is round | |
|
TEACHER
: What shape is
the world in? | |
|
TEACHER
:
Why does your maths
exam have a big zero on it? TEACHER
:Why does history keep repeating itself? TEACHER :If there
are ten cats in a boat and one jumps out, how many are
left? TEACHER : What do we do with crude oil
? |
Dirt Demons
Club members who enjoy the sport
of motocross as much as the characters Scott and Jayson do from the
Crusader Series must really be busting their spokes with excitement
this month - especially if you're anywhere near the Ballarat
or Melbourne regions!
Ballarat will be hosting a 2 day event on the 10th and 11th of July, so now's the time to be getting your entry forms in... or booking a hotel or spare bedroom with relatives if you're going just for the eye candy of seeing people go SPLATTT off their motorbikes hehehe... The events will be held on a special dirt track built especially for the weekend. Spectators are expected to reach about 2000! So if you're going, you better have a room booked, or else pack a tent! For more info click HERE
Horsing Around
Club members who love the horsey side of the series must have seen Vego Mortensen's latest movie Hidalgo by now - and if you haven't you should ask your mum and dad to borrow it when it comes to video... mannn, it's excellent! Hey, we didn't know Vego (aka Aragorn from Lord of the Rings) was also related to the Legend Buffalo Bill!!!! Did you?
Small world, hey?Closer to home - some more inside horsey gossip - if you didn't know already that is... Did you know that actresses Lisa Chappell and Bridie Carter (Claire and Tess in McLeod’s Daughters) had never ridden a horse before they landed their parts?! It took 3 weeks to learn and haven't they done well !
CRUSADER MAD
SCIENTIST
For club members who know how
much fun science can be in the real world... this Mad Scientist News
article sent in to us by the Fabulous Jackie Hosking!!!! Thanks
for another fantastic experiment
Jackie!!!
FINGERPRINTS
Did
you know that the NAFIS (National Automated Fingerprint Identification
System) was created in 1986 but it began in 1903 when the Inspector of NSW
Prisons gave 6,000 sets of prisoners’ fingerprints to the NSW Police. The
NAFIS is now considered the best in the world and boasts a database of
about 2.1 million sets of fingerprints!!!
Everybody in the world has unique fingerprints even identical
twins. Your fingerprints are one of the easiest ways of identifying you
and many criminals have gone to a lot of trouble trying to disguise theirs
even dipping their fingertips into acid – OUCH! Fingerprints behave like
an ink stamp. When your finger touches an object the ridges cause contact
patterns that are reproduced in sweat rather than ink. These prints tend
to be invisible and are dusted with fine powders that stick to the sweat
and reveal the print. Here’s how you can dust for your own
fingerprints.
WHAT YOU WILL
NEED
*
Spatula
*
Sheet of newspaper
*
White powder (talc)
*
Soft brush
*
Samples of: glossy paper, filter paper, black plastic, white
plastic, cloth
WHAT TO
DO
- Place
newspaper on bench
- Choose one
of the samples and press your index finger onto
it
- Sprinkle a
small amount of talc onto the print
- Gently brush
off the talc
- Repeat with all the samples and notice which prints are
clearer
CLUB JARGON BUSTERS
Here are
this month's weird words from the world of spies, private
investigation, military surveillance and criminal justice. These are
sent to us by club member Karinna M.
If you have a weird word you'd like to share, then email the us HERE and we'll spread the word - or explain it for you:
Dead Drop: (You know how to pronounce this one) It's a code word for a secret location for hiding things that need to be picked up by a fellow spy or criminal.
Dossier (Pronounced Doss-ee-ar or Doss-ee-ay) It's a file or bundle of documents that all relate to the same person or topic. Your school keeps a dossier about you so they can fill out your report cards at the end of each year.
Mnemonic (pronounced Nuu-mon-ick) A Mnemonic is a memory aid, something you do or write to remind you of something else. Some people tie strings around their fingers as a mnemonic to remember to do their homework. Some parents write doodles on their hand to remind them to pick their kids up from school.
Polygraph: (pronounced Polly-graff) A lie detector machine, usually measures fluctuations in skin temperature and pulse to tell if you're fibbing.
Crusader Stellar Watch
For club members who like to keep their eyes open to what going on above them, as well as in the world around them...FOUR SATELLITES LEAVING THE SOLAR SYSTEM!!!!
Did you know there are four earth-made satellites in the process of leaving our solar system?
Pioneer 10 was launched in 1972 and has travelled a whopping 86 AU's on its one-way journey out through constellation Taurus into the forever-more. (1 AU = the average distance from the Earth to the Sun) While Pioneer 11 - launched one year later - has travelled only 67 AU's in the opposite direction.
Both pioneer satellites are dead as far as Earth scientists are concerned. But two more recent satellites are still working and sending back valuable data about this amazing universe we live in.
The two that are still working are Voyagers 1 & 2, launched about a fortnight apart in August and September 1977.
Both are travelling much faster than the first two. They're all travelling in different directions of course, so they won't overtake each other (unless the universe really is round and they cross paths on the way back in a few trillion years or so.)
But it's really interesting to note that the last one to be launched has travelled the furthest out of all of them... about 92 times the distance from the Earth to the sun!!!
Weird
News
A new kind of giant three tier
mushroom has been found in the tropical forests of
the Congo. It's the first time a three-tiered mushroom has ever
been found, leaving scientists scratching their heads as to how they
should classify it scientifically. The giant fungus is roughly knee high at
about 45 centimetres tall and although it has only one stem, it has three
"hats", one on top of each other. The bottom cap is about one
metre wide. The middle "hat" is about 60 centimetres wide and the top
hat is about 24 centimetres wide - making it the biggest and weirdest
mushroom ever found. (I'll bet scientists are still drawing straws to see
who should be first to taste it. Hehehehe)
For more info, click here.c
Dino Shot on Volcano Isle
Scientists in New Zealand have been using a camera to
monitor a remote island volcano over the Internet (and avoid
breathing poisonous gases themselves)- but they've struck a strange
problem. Their camera has taken shots of a familiar pink dinosaur
in the crater. The volcano is
on White Island in the Bay of Plenty, east of Auckland, and although it
attracts many tourists by boat, hardly anyone ever goes ashore... well,
except for someone named Fred, perhaps. Click here
to check out the pink dinosaur caught waving to them from the
crater. Hehehe... Prankster was here.
CLUB MONEY
Here's
this month's inside info and tips for club members to help
the whole family.
Focus on Personal $$$:
It's tax time at the end of June and kids are only allowed to earn up to $416 from investments and bank accounts before tax needs to be paid on the amounts over $416. So unless you have a job and work for your money, then anything over this amount could be taxed up to 66%!!!
Handy hint: Remind your parents NOW while there's still a few days left to see your family accountant and plan what you need to do to fix your problems before they cost too much!
Focus on Business 4
Kids: Kids can make money and help their
parents too, by investing in the family credit card. It only works if
your parent's credit card is not paid off every month and costs
them money in interest. But if this is the case,
then find out what interest rate they are being charged, divide it by two
and then loan them the savings from your pocket money to "park" in
their credit card to save them money. Then you get half of what they
save - and you all win. (Well, everyone except the bank, that
is.)
For example: If your parents
owe $8000 on their credit card which is charging 17% interest a year, then
they will be paying the bank about $113.30 per month interest. If you loan
them $500 from your piggy bank, then you will be saving your parents about
$0.23 cents per day. ($500 X 0.17 divided by 365 days in a year.). If you
charge them 12 cents per day, then you will be earning interest HEAPS
faster than in a savings account AND you will be saving your
parents about the same every day too!
CLUB
SECRET
... shhhh!
The title of the first book in the crusader series is a play on words because it uses the words DEAD DOGS for two different reasons! If you can figure out the club secret, email your answer HERE before the 30th of July and you'll win a crusader voice recorder key ring!
CLUB SCAM WATCH
Did you know that door-to-door insurance salesmen have been banned in Australia? Salesmen selling other things can still show up and be pushy about making you sign to pay for things you didn't really need, but if this happens to anyone in your family, make sure you remind them that they can cancel within the first 14 days, which is called a cooling off period.Handy Hint for Tricky kids and parents: If you see a door-to-door salesman coming, then warn your parents, ask to borrow their mobile phone, and if the salesman starts to be a pest, your mum or dad can give you a signal to go away and call the home phone from your bedroom using the mobile so they have to answer the phone and send the salesman away. "Bye! Sorry, can't talk. I'm expecting an important call!" Hehehehe.
And now for a word from
our
CELEBRITY
GUEST AUTHOR:
Moya
Simons! YAYYYY!!!!!!
Moya's been writing for children for 11
years and has 24 books published in 5 languages and 10
countries!!! She's written
two series – the ‘Dead’ books (Dead Meat, Dead Average etc.) and the
Totally books (Totally Cool, Totally Weird etc). Then there’s Whoppers, an Aussie bite
and lots of other books too. Does
Moya love writing? You better believe it,
clubbies!
Check out Moya's amazing books on her webpage www.moyasimons.com
Our club discount detectives also found all of Moya's
books available at great discount prices this month if you buy online at
Booktopia!
So okay,
Moya... Crusader Interrogation Time:
What's the inside info about your life and books?
I am married to Jules who is very handsome and has a furry beard. I have two grown up children, Suzy and Tamie. They are very beautiful. I don’t have any pets right now, though I love animals. I am living in an apartment. I do have 45 pot plants. (They don’t need toilet training!) Thinking about this one day inspired me to write a book called My Amazing Poo Plant. What’s that you say? You’ve never heard of a Poo Plant? Well, if you want to know more, read the story when it comes out as an Aussie Nibble next year.
Ooooh, Moya! We definitely WILL keep an eye open for it!
Can you tell us WHY you love to write?
Because I get a chance to live in another world for a little while. I get quite lost in my thoughts, type very quickly, hardly looking at the computer screen. I see the characters and the plot unfold in my mind like a movie.
So where DO you get all your fabulous ideas from?
So
many places! (And everyday things.) For
example:
The Boy Who Would Live Forever became an Aussie Chomp and the idea for it came simply from visiting a school and talking to the children there.
I asked the class if they could choose an age they could stay forever what would it be?
Most kids wanted to stay about
18. But one child said ‘I’m
12 years old. I love being
12. It’s such a lot of
fun. I want to stay 12
forever.’ After I left, his words kept creeping into my mind. I couldn’t forget them. I really liked that he was happy at
the age he was and was enjoying being twelve. So I started
to ask myself: What if you
stayed 12 forever? What kind
of problems would you have?
How would you survive?
How would you get work?
How would yo cope with your family dying? Who would look after you? What if people were jealous and
scientists wanted to find out what was different about your
body?
And, of
course, the inevitable question – what had happened in the first place to
make you this way?
That’s what happens when you write a story. You might have a wonderful idea but if you want it to turn into a good read you have to be able to answer all of these questions to push your story ahead. And, of course, you need adventures. You need this 12 year old boy to have a lot of things happen to him to keep the reader interested.
What about the Rocketship of Dreams? That sounds like an amazing idea!
There’s a toy shop near
where I live, called the Red Rocket.
It’s filled with all kinds of toys and a lot of them are alien
toys. When I walk in there
it’s like setting food on another planet. I love it. I started to think about the toy
shop at odd times, a sure sign I was going to come up with a
story. This time I wanted a funny story with zany characters. (Tom
plugged the toilet and the plumber nearly passed out when he fixed it. His
sister
I loved the characters in this book and the way the moth-eaten rocket ship became a magic place for each person to learn about their dreams.
Moya's SECRET WRITING Tip:
I need to have things go wrong in my books. That’s so important in every story. And at the end, well – everything turns out JUST RIGHT.
We love stories like that too Moya! Thanks for sharing your time with us!
"Totally Creepy"... reviewed by club member Mitchell R, (aged 11, Qld)... Mitchell wins a $10 club voucher for spending in the club bookshop by answering last month's club challenge and providing us with his review of Moya Simon's book "Totally Creepy":
This book is about a girl who spies on her neighbours from her cubby house during school holidays. (I think she would be a good club member!!) She's always pretending and writing stories. I like the one with the monkeys. Then one day aliens move into the house across the street and she sees the boy called Ven turn into something like a grasshopper. His eyes spin and make her dizzy. She takes him to the pool one day but the pool water hurts his skin. Then he takes her memory away and the next part of the book is about him and how he came to Earth to study people of Earth before his people kill our people so they can move into our planet. His planet is called Xrupa. His school is deep underground and his sun is 40 times smaller than our sun so I think his people would think Earth is too hot for them. But something else happens. I won't tell you what it is or it will spoil the surprise. This book is a bit creepy but mostly its lots of fun and easy to read. I like the word the girl uses instead of swearing. She says ficklefoo which is the same word my grandmother uses when she does something silly. And I also like that the girl in the story was writing a book about a story that happened to her and then at the end she is hoping it will get published and it must have been because I was reading it. I know this is just pretend but I like it because it is a nice twist for kids who like to write their stories and diaries too. I would give this book four stars our of five!
That's it for this month!
Stay tuned for the next edition of CRUSADER CLUB NEWS...
Celebrity guest author will be... drum roll please....:
ANNA CIDDOR!!!!
amazingly talented author of:
‘The famous VIKING MAGIC SERIES !!!
Wow! Is it going to be hard waiting another month, or what?
You'll LOVE her too!!!!
... UNTIL NEXT MONTH GANG... KEEP CRUSADING!!!!!!!!!!
Note:
All animated images are freeware and can be copied for your student
webpages. All book covers
are copyright to the relevant authors or
publishers. And all text is copyright to (c) Anita Bell, 2004, unless
otherwise specified.
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Copyright (c), 2003, 2004 Bleetie & Co
Pty Ltd
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