The Tusker Tribune The Student Newspaper of Somers Middle School

Issue Number 23 http://somersschools.org/domain/995 Spring 2018 School Shootings—A Preventable Tragedy

By Izzy Youngs stopped. Besides making it harder Tusker Tribune Staff to buy a gun, we need better back- All around the ground checks. No more innocent world, about 35,141 a lives should be taken for no reason year people are shot and whatsoever. killed by guns. Almost all of Another thing is school shootings them are innocent and about should end and kids should never 2,737 of those people are kids. have to go to school with a little Kids whose lives were ended too worry that something might hap- soon just because bad people pen. School is supposed to be safe were able to get guns. That and keep you safe. That’s why we needs to be fixed! have all kinds of drills. One way to fix it is make guns harder to In 2017 there were a total of eight school get. Also, did you know, according to research it is shootings and in 2018, so far there have been 10 harder to get a marriage license than it is to get shootings, and counting. The recent shooting at an assault weapon. A MARRIGE LICENSE!!!! Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Park- Another group of people who don’t help land, Florida, resulted in 17 students and teachers with the situation is the National Rifle Association dying. And after what happened at their school (NRA). These people are the ones who always use they have had protests and are helping make a the Second Amendment—the right to keep and change in gun violence. bear arms—as the reason why there shouldn’t be Hopefully these things can be stopped, and restrictions on guns. people don’t have to worry about whether someone I don’t know why people who are mentally in their family might get shot and die simply be- unstable can have guns! That, too, should also be cause they decided to attend school. New iPhone is Shrouded in Mystery!

By Ezra Weinstein there is a combination lock on the door. That lock Tusker Tribune Staff changes its password every 30 minutes to ensure As most of you might know, that no body besides Apple employees can access the iPhone X and the iPhone 8/8 the room. plus just came out last December. Of course, the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook gets If you think that was it for a while, you notified every time the password is changed. It’s are completely wrong! Apple has said Weinstein’s funny because in the movie Ocean’s 11, the casi- that in September, a new phone will be Wisdom no has a similar method for their money vault. coming out. The password also changes every 30 minutes, Apple likes to keep their new which makes it a challenge for the main charac- products very secret so it’s very hard for ter, Daniel Oceans, and his team, to steal the people to obtain information about them. money. Maybe Tim Cook liked Ocean’s 11! Everyone thinks when a phone comes I’m sure the suspense is killing you trying to find out, it means that they just finished true information on the phone but the only thing making it. The phone is usually created I know is that it is claimed to be a bigger version a couple months before the actual release of the iPhone X. C’mon I thought we were trying date. to make phones smaller! There is a new phone sitting on a If anyone has any more information on table inside a vacuum sealed room with the new iPhone, I suggest sharing it with your many layers of security. Supposedly, peers. The Tusker Tribune Page 2 The Student Newspaper of Somers Middle School BSA’s Sea Base: a Weeklong Sailing Trip!

By Nicholas Cirillo Tusker Tribune Staff Just visualize for a mo- ment: You’re in the sunny Florida Keys, sailing on a boat, fishing lines dragging behind you, with three or four of your friends hanging out. The wind changes, and you hear your Captain yell: “Tack on the starboard side!” You grab the rope closest to you and pull with all of your might as your friend loosens the one opposite of you. Both of you sigh in relief as the sail changes direc- tion, and you tie up the knot in a cleat hitch. You take a step back, adjust your hat, and slap on another layer of sunscreen, ready (delicious) meal, and which adults and Scouts will to dive into the water once again. be taking which anchor watch. That’s Florida Sea Base, a high-adventure Speaking of anchor watch, each night, the program offered to Boy Scouts and Venture Scouts must keep a night watch by taking bear- Crews. Through the week of winter break, many ings and making sure the boat isn’t drifting. This boys in Troop 228 Somers (myself included) flew can be done in several ways. My boat did one down to the Sunshine State to sail in the beautiful Scout per one hour (admittedly, a bad idea, since Florida Keys. twice Scouts fell asleep during their shifts), while After we arrived at Sea Base, we pre- another boat did two Scouts for two hours. pared our things and were assigned our boats – Here’s another tip: Bring some kind of Crew A, led by fellow 8th grader pocket-sized board game, like chess or Battleship. Robert Moore, would be sailing You can play it on the boat before bed. It’s also a on the Hercules; Crew B, led by good idea to bring your smartphone if your par- your truly, would be manning the ents will allow it: NOT to use on the boat, except Jewel of Athena; Crew C, led by for maybe pictures and a call home, but for time at Somers High School student Jul- the airport or on the plane. ian Bruno, would adventure on On Thursday, our boats reconvened at the the Green Olive, and Crew F (I’m Marathon Marina, where we refueled the boat’s not too sure why letters D and E motors, emptied out the trash and (yuck!) the were skipped), led by SHS student Alex Witkie- head, and ate a delicious seafood dinner at the La- wicz, sailed on the Missty. zy Days restaurant. After that, we enjoyed one All four boats and their captains were more full day of sailing, and headed back to New fabulous, and the next morning, each boat set sail York for school. (Here’s a great tip: Don’t go to into the Keys! First up: Snorkeling! school that Monday. You will be getting back at 2 Snorkeling is a way of swimming in which a.m., on Monday, and it’s just not worth the sleep- the swimmer wears a mask, flippers, and often an lessness. Just remember to ask a friend for any inflatable life jacket. The mask is unique in that it missed assignments.) has a hollow stalk reaching above the head of the I’ve attached the photo of everyone who user, connected to a mouthpiece, enabling breath- attended Sea Base with us, and I’m sure you’ll see ing at a shallow underwater level. Snorkeling was some familiar faces. If you’re curious about it, be one of the highlights of the trip, and while my sure to ask one of crew did not see many coral reefs or catch any lob- us! ster, it was still a blast to swim in the water and All in all, watch the colorful fish. not once did the Another fun aspect of the trip was the awesome adven- sailing itself. There were three different sails, and turing at Sea Base the sail we used the most was the jib, a small, tri- get boring, and if angular sail towards the bow (front) of the boat. you are a Boy It’s also the hardest to manage, with bigger ropes Scout or part of a and manual cleating (tying off the rope). Venture crew, I The Scouts cook each meal and clean all highly recommend the dishes – which really isn’t that bad – as well asking a leader as select what each meal will be. Crew leaders like about Florida Sea me had to choose who will be cooking what Base! The Tusker Tribune Page 3 The Student Newspaper of Somers Middle School Two Views on ‘Fortnite’

By Nolan Kavanagh By Juliana Spano There are many Tusker Tribune Staff Tusker Tribune kinds of weapons and other Taking over the Internet, Staff objects to collect in the one gamer at a time. One single Fortnite is game. The game also has a video game. FORTNITE. the new craze feature called The Storm. The video game Fortnite amongst, well, eve- The storm is just like what was developed by the companies Epic ryone! Kids, teens and it sounds like: it’s a storm Games and People Can Fly. This free to adults are all joining the that closes in on you unless play as of 2018 game is a co-op sandbox game and are playing to you are in the storm eye. survival game considered by the creators win. Here's The eye shrinks of the game at Epic as a cross between the a little and shrinks two games Minecraft and Left 4 Dead. knowledge and eventually, The game has recently reached its I have on if the games go peak of a bit over 3.4 million concurrent the game. on for a long players, crushing PlayerUnkown's Battle- time, there is grounds' (PUB G) record of 3.2 million. You no eye at all. Fortnite is set on present day start out in There earth where a storm inches closer and a "lobby" are a few differ- closer until the prior safe zone is con- and 99 oth- ent modes you sumed and a new smaller one is set. If the er random can play such storm moves ahead and surrounds some- players as solo, duo and one, they are slowly deprived of health (unless you squad. Whatev- until the storm stops for a mere 3 minutes are playing er you decide to and 20 sec- and are play, there can onds until connected either only be one person, the storm to your friends) are duo or squad left. When begins to brought into the same lob- you win, you get a cool de- proceed to by as you. sign on your screen that its next After a few seconds says, " #1 Victory Royale." stopping to a minute, you are put on point, con- something called a battle Do you think kids suming eve- bus and you get to pick and teens are too obsessed rything in its path in the process. Every when you jump out and with this game? Personal- time that the storm is stopped, the closing skydive down to one of the ly, I think that it’s a phase time gets slimmer. Once there is only one various towns on the map. and pretty soon it will be person left, it is a Victory Royale. onto the next game. The game begins by choosing a mode, Solo (alone), Duo (two players) or Squads (four players). Once you are matched with a total of 100 players, you are placed in a game lobby and right from The Tusker Tribune is there are loaded onto a battle bus. You featured online and is published weekly can jump off the battle bus at any time at (except during school any place as the bus continues to fly over vacations) on the Som- the map. ers Middle School Web- Some of the landing spots consist site. It is entirely stu- dent-written by 6th, 7th of Tilted Towers, Retail Row, Salty and 8th grade students Springs, Moisty Mire, Wailing Woods, To- The Tusker from mato Town, Lucky Somers Middle Tribune Staff School Landing, Loot Nick Cirillo 250 Route 202 Lake, Dusty Depot, Juliana Spano Somers, NY, USA. Lonely Lodge, Nolan Kavanagh Any SMS student is Snobby Shores, eligible to write stories. Izzy Youngs If interested, please e- Greasy Grove, and Ezra Weinstein mail Advisor Dean Pleasant Park. Evan Volkman Pappas at You can download Fortnite at Joseph Melillo DPappas www.epicgames.com. @somersschools.org The Tusker Tribune Page 4 The Student Newspaper of Somers Middle School Self Driving Cars Not Ready for Prime Time! Music Report

By Joseph Melillo Tusker Tribune Staff By Noah Volkman Many people don't realize the Tusker Tribune Staff truth about self-driving cars, but I've come to know how dangerous My Dear Melancholy – The Weeknd these cars truly are. People think self-driving cars are safe The Cana- and fun. But they can develop glitches and bugs, dian “Can’t Feel My they can fail to detect a crossing pedestrian, or if Face” and “Starboy” it crashed nobody would know who to blame. It singer The Weeknd is could take years to figure out. surprising his fans with I believe self- a new album, My Dear driving cars are not Melancholy, out at mid- safe and should not be night tonight. There is on the road. very little news about Self-driving cars the album, but every The are not safe because Weeknd album has a few they can develop glitch- gems, if not more. es and bugs. First, a glitch is annoying on a The World Is Yours – Rich the Kid desktop computer, but on the road, it is much Rich the Kid, the worse. Out of 44 mid- Queens, NY native, rap- dle school students surveyed, 78% of them said a per, and musical master- bug or glitch would be deadly on the road. Be- mind. March 30. The cause of a glitch the following negative things World Is Yours. Rich the could happen, you could crash, your car could Kid’s new album includes break down, and you could scratch your song like “New Freezer” car. This shows how with rapping prodigy dangerous a glitch or Kendrick Lamar, “Dead bug could possibly be. Friends”, a diss to rapper Secondly, tech- Lil Uzi Vert, and many nology is more. very helpful; everyone New Freezer (feat. Kendrick Lamar) likes technology, but if Plug Walk humans rely on Dead Friends it too much bad things could happen. Hack- ers could gain control of the computer and crash California – EP – Diplo it or use it as a weapon for terrorist at- tacks. This could cause America to fall in- DJ Diplo of Ma- to chaos. There will have be constant updates jor Lazer is back with a for every single new stop sign or traffic new EP titled light. This would mean they would not always “California”. It has a be available. loaded feature cast of Self-driving cars are still not good rappers Lil Yachty, enough to be on the road. In Florida, a Tesla car Desiigner, DRAM, Lil using its self-driving technology failed to detect Xan, GoldLink, and a crossing semi-truck and neither the car or the Trippie Redd. It also human backup driver braked. This resulted in a includes singers San- crash, but luckily no one was hurt. This shows tigold and MØ. I give that self-driving cars are not prepared to take Diplo a double thumbs- on the road yet. Even though self- up. driving cars are cool, they are unsafe.

Continued on page 5 Continued on page 5 The Tusker Tribune Page 5 The Student Newspaper of Somers Middle School

Music Report AMERICA – Thirty Seconds to Mars Continued from page 4 Thirty Seconds to Mars has been holding this al- ? – XXXTENTACION bum off for forever. “Walk on Water” was a hit and then they released Rapper XXXTENTAC- “Dangerous Night” which ION is one of my favor- didn’t do as well but I ites for one reason. On personally thought it was this album, he’s not rap- an okay song. A week lat- er, they put The New Al- ping about cars, drugs, bum on Pre-Order for money, and sex like June 2 and kept it for most rappers do; he uses several weeks. Until last his platform to talk week when they released about depression and their third single off the anxiety and suicidal album “One Track Mind” thoughts, etc. The lead with rapper A$AP Rocky. tracks, “SAD!” and Then they changed the “changes” explain the album name to “AMERICA”. Across the cover, it entire album. Although he may look intimidating, says “COWGIRL; DOGGY; FACE; SIXTY-NINE; he is not a gangster rapper. SCISSORS; THE CRAB”. Thirty Seconds to Mars, that is a weird choice of wording.

Self Driving Cars ble? Would it be the manufacturer of the car or Continued from page 4 would it be the human driver? The argument could go both ways, Self-driving cars are not safe because they the manufacturer could get in trouble for failing may not be able to do the right thing. According to update the computer controlling the car, or it to a recent survey, most of the 48 peo- could be the human driver's fault for not pay- ple surveyed believed that a self-driving car would ing attention to the road. This case could take not be able to do the right thing if someone got in years for court to figure out. Also, a self- its way. driving car would probably add 10,000 dollars to Adding onto the glitches, the glitch could an average car price. If the car crashed and cause the motion detector you didn’t have insurance to break down and fail to that would be a lot of mon- notify the driver of ey wasted on a car when the vehicle. This shows you could have gotten the high chance of a pe- something else. destrian getting hit by If self-driving cars a self-driving vehicle. It were let onto the road it also shows that a self- would end driving car may not have in people suing the manu- the ability to notify the facturer of the car, or peo- driver if it broke down. ple suing other people be- Self-driving cars cause of an accident. The need to be programmed cars would have to be con- to save people's lives and stantly updated and re- to also follow the laws of traffic. Finally, what called too give them the would happen if the car detected a leaf or a falling latest technology and virus protec- twig and stopped the car? This could cause an tion. In conclusion, if the self-driving car crashed accident with the car behind it. To allow self- it would be a difficult court case. In conclusion, self-driving cars driving cars to be on the road they need to be able are dangerous and should not be on the road. I to do the right thing if something got in its way. believe this because self-driving cars can develop Self-driving cars are not safe; who would glitches and bugs, they may not be able to do the be responsible if the car crashed? If a self-driving right thing if something got in its way, and car got into an accident because it ignored it would be a difficult court case. Please, do your a recently placed stop sign, who would get in trou- part to keep the community safe and do your part to keep self-driving cars off the road